Agents in Boston are using Matterport virtual tours to continue business while remaining cognizant of COVID-19 social distancing orders.
Boston.com reports:
Bill Patterson, broker and owner of Craft Realty in Boston, said he wasn’t totally shocked to see the listings despite increasing restrictions on large public gatherings due to the coronavirus, because many real estate agents have been slow to adopt technology that facilitates virtual tours.
“They’re still following the old model — do the open house, get the energy,’’ Patterson said. “It’s a system that works, but when we’re trying to keep [our] distance, I’d like to see it change.’”
Patterson, an early adopter of 3-D virtual tour technology, may soon get his wish. On March 20, Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh called on the real estate industry to stop holding open houses to market properties for rent or sale. Instead, landlords, realtors, and rental brokers should schedule individual showings and use photos and videos as much as possible.
There are signs that is starting to change, according to Bill Cutrer, chief executive of Seapoint Digital, a digital marketing agency in Kittery, Maine, that serves northern New England and Greater Boston. Seapoint employs Matterport technology, which uses sensors to build advanced 3-D models of homes for realtors.
Just this month, as the urgency around COVID-19 intensified nationwide, there was a 41 percent year-over-year increase in Google searches for Matterport in the firm’s service area and a 66 percent increase in unique visitors to Seapoint’s website for Matterport-related content, Cutrer said.
“It’s something that’s going to catch on more, especially as it continues to go into April, May, depending on the length of the [COVID-19] circumstances,’’ said Cutrer, who counts Patterson, of Craft Realty in Boston, as a client.
