How to save your real estate business during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic begins to affect all aspects of the world’s economy, and the real estate industry is no exception.

Now that you should stay at home because of the lockdowns and social distancing orders, how do you want to do your job?

In this article, we’re going to explain how to save your real estate business amid the crisis.

Effects of COVID-19 on the real estate industry

Until now, more than 17 million people have been infected by the novel version of the coronavirus and unfortunately, around 700,000 people have died.

Although the effects of the coronavirus outbreak are very different in various fields and regions of the world, some overall trends in the real estate industry can be observed.

· Commercial buildings

Sales of brick and mortar businesses have significantly dropped across the world forcing business owners to close.

This trend has hardly hit the commercial real estate industry. Hotels, shops, restaurants, retailers, and many other businesses are spending the worst crisis after World War II. Many of them are negotiating the rent reliefs with their landlords.

So business owners in these sectors are tightening their belts to survive the crisis. Of course, the shape of the world’s economy after the crisis will not be identical to what we experienced before the outbreak of the coronavirus.

With the world shifting towards being more and more digitalized, there isn’t any assurance for brick and mortar businesses to have a full recovery after the recession.

· Residential buildings

Many commentators might believe that COVID-19 does not affect the residential sector because people need houses anyway.

They say that the demand for the residential building will not change, especially in metropolitan cities. In fact, the population of these cities is still increasing and this factor will outweigh the effects of the coronavirus. So in the mid and long-term view, the residential buildings will still remain as a stable investment.

But on the other hand, some short-term consequences can be felt as many buyers are postponing their decisions.

Moreover, fears of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have caused a significant decrease in the deals of luxury houses. Of course, people are trying to save their money for the aftermath of the crisis.

6 tips to save your real estate business amid the crisis

Now that we’ve reviewed the effects of the current crisis on the real estate industry, it’s time to think about what we can do.

1. Don’t panic and stay informed‎

Try to learn from previous crises and the experiences of other businesses. For example, a lot of businesses panicked when a recession emerged in 2008.

They couldn’t take the problem in their strides and rushed instead of thinking about long-term targets. Of course, these business owners couldn’t recover when the economy boomed again in 2009.

So try to stay informed about the crisis and its impact on your industry instead of panicking. This can really help you take appropriate actions at the right time.

2. ‎Increase your social media presence

Now that you have to stay at your home to stop the coronavirus from spreading, it’s good for you to leverage the power of social media.

You must know that the more a company uses digital means of communication and sales, the easier it can survive the global pandemic. With the help of social media, you can avoid any physical contact while you’re marketing your products/services.

A sharp increase in the average daily usage of social networks can be seen amid the corona crisis compared to the past. So it’s necessary for you to reach out to your potential customers through social media.

Of course, if you haven’t already created social media accounts, you’ll find it difficult to reach a good result soon.

That’s why a lot of brands, especially small companies, try to buy existing social accounts. This can save time for them and provide them with thousands of niche followers.

You have to know that marketing your business on social media won’t be as easy as you might think. First, you need a plan like this:

• Competition research
• Objective definition
• Targeting audiences
• Content generation
• Promotion
• Engagement
• Analyzing the performance and measuring the ROI

You will need a lot of techniques and skills like influencer marketing, using hashtags related to real estate, cross-promotion, and video marketing to be able to get ahead of this competition.

3. Live within your means‎

The most important task of every business owner during the current circumstance is to manage your money and avoid losing your deposits.

Try to avoid spending more than you can earn during the crisis or else, you will face unimaginable problems.

Consider financing via private money loans. Many buyers got expensive loans from banks before the 2008 recession to buy buildings hoping that after the crisis their value would double. But almost all of them failed when the bubble burst.

4. Stay connected with your community

Even in the hardest economic situations, you can hope to recover if you can save your connections with your community and manage your reputation.

If your community remember your brand, there would be a chance to revive your brand in the aftermath of the crisis.

Try to reach out to your previous customers and remind them of your collaboration to encourage them to stay your customers. Also, you have to try to find other potential customers to make sure you will have enough sales when the crisis is over.

Remember that you don’t have to appear too promotional because people will be bothered, especially during the current crisis.

Instead, you can ask your community to share their thoughts and moments with you. Sharing user-generated content on social media helps you to, first, gain the trust and support of those users. And second, it will save time and energy in generating original content for your site and social accounts.

5. Try to appear like a niche leader

People are looking for new information more than ever. You have to feed them with the newest trends related to your market.

If you can provide them with sensible anticipations about the future of the real estate industry, they will remember your brand even after the crisis.

You have to provide them with the latest statistics, analyses, free advice, and the prospect for the future. Make sure that you’re covering all aspects of your industry and drawing the attention of as many people as possible.

This can help you appear like a thought leader in the real estate industry. Subsequently, you will more likely to generate new leads amid the new normal.

6. Revise your website’s content

One of the most important improvements amid the crisis is adapting your site’s content with the new requirements.

For example, you need to optimize your content for the corona-related keywords to improve your search visibility.

It’s also good to double-check the newest policies of Google for ranking to avoid being affected by Google’s penalties.

Finally, remember that visualization has recently become significantly important in searches. So you’d better present your content with the support of high-quality images/videos.

Conclusion

In sum, it should be said that the real estate industry has always been in a natural cycle of prosperity, recession, depression, and recovery. So you have to wait until the crisis is over and avoid any emotional decision. Bear in mind that many other business owners are suffering the same problems and you’re not alone.

Photo: Breno Assis, Unsplash