MADRID – Advancing technology and innovation ensure that you can largely buy a house online and safely. Tools such as videos, 360º tours of homes and video calls with potential buyers are then used in the sales process.
Finally, buyers can pay for their new home with a credit card. Early adopters may take advantage of it. The average person will scratch their head at the idea of spending so much money for something they haven’t even seen in real life. Buying a house is also partly a matter of feeling.
According to the newspaper El Economista, the technological services mentioned are now the most demanded in the sector. As a promoter or broker, you need to have your online sales channels in order. Some brokers make it possible for their clients to buy houses completely digitally and with the highest security guarantees through credit cards.
Bureaucratic procedures as an obstacle
The digital part is gaining more and more ground. Especially in the field of obtaining reports, title deeds, land registry information and even pre-purchase contracts with a digital signature. However, bureaucratic procedures required to complete the buying and selling process are another obstacle, as they must be carried out in the presence of notaries, government officials, registered appraisers, etc.
Digital preselection
The consumer’s willingness to do things digitally also strongly depends on the profile of the consumer and the extent to which he is used to using digital tools. For foreign buyers interested in a house in Spain, it can be very useful to do part of the purchasing process through digital sales channels. It is very useful to get a good impression of several homes selected in advance by the estate agent for you as a customer via 360º recordings. Only if you are seriously interested do you fly to Spain.
Industry experts do realise that converting these leads and digital encounters into physical visits is a major challenge. That conversion is decisive in the purchase decision. Still, the trend they say we’re going to see in the future concerning real estate buying and selling is that the technology component is getting bigger and bigger.
Brokers also point out that it is necessary to increasingly imitate the customer’s experience at a physical point of sale and to do this virtually. The buyer of a first or second home has a more emotional profile when buying a home and wants to see the home, the surroundings, etc. However, that profile changes when it comes to investors who don’t need to see the property to buy it.
Digitization is already commonplace in new construction
There are also differences between buying a new or second-hand home. New construction has always been bought off-plan and without seeing the house. When buying a second-hand house, technology makes the process much easier and saves time, but ultimately the customer wants to see the house for himself before buying it.
The big promoters already have tools like Metrovacesa with its MVC Digital service. A service that offers the purchase of a property completely electronically, from the first visit to the choice of finishes and furnishings to contract management and the signing of the reservation.
Aedas Homes with its LIVE Virtual Tours platform, launched in 2019, uses the latest technology from the world of television and video games. This “teleports” a commercial consultant to a 3D model of development. A tour of the house can then be made and potential buyers can see the view from the terrace, for example.
