Property Finder goes live, bringing real-time property viewings to your fingertips #househuntfromhome

Highlights include:

• This is the first product of its kind in the MENA-region, allowing property viewings to be broadcast live to a consumer's device
• Property seekers will be able to stream live viewings, ask questions and leave comments in-real-time for the agents broadcasting the properties
• Live Viewings is a free product for both agents and consumers and can be scheduled directly from a listing on the Property Finder website

Dubai: Under its “House Hunt from Home” initiative created for the current market conditions and to follow Covid-19 protocols put in place by the government, Property Finder has just launched Live Viewings on their website. 

Live Viewings is the latest of several innovative products launched by Property Finder to help facilitate the house hunter’s journey in the comfort of their own home. These products have included 360 Tours, Virtual Tours, Floor Plans and social media tours to help make house hunting a digital reality.

“As we lead the disruption in Proptech we are giving thousands of UAE agents the ability to schedule and broadcast live viewings to property seekers within the region and across the globe. The world has changed and we at Property Finder are making sure ourselves and our partners are ahead of the game so people in our region benefit from the latest technologies.” said Ari Kesisoglu, President of the Property Finder Group.

Rose Marsh, lead product manager on the project commented, “While we believe there is still a strong place for in-person viewings, we see virtual viewings, facilitated by our expert agents, playing a greater role in the property-search journey going forward.” She continued with ”This is an innovation that will resonate with property seekers dealing with moving houses right now and also with house hunters and international investors post covid.”

Hemnet is Sweden's largest property portal and they launched a similar product called “Hemnet Live” just over a month ago. So far they had close to 600 planned or finished live streamed open houses via Hemnet Live. Cecilia Beck-Friis, CEO of Hemnet said “This means that agents can reach a large group of potential buyers and sellers who can view the open house from the safety and comfort of their home.”  She continued with “Our surveys show that more than half of Hemnet’s visitors would view a live streamed open house online, provided that the quality was high enough. During current circumstances the demand for such service is likely to increase.”

Live Viewings combines Property Finder’s own technology platforms with YouTube Live to facilitate bringing live streaming to the UAE real estate market.

Virtual tours already play a particularly strong role in the off plan market, as well as playing an important role in international investment. Many investors are accustomed to purchasing without physically viewing the property, however now they will be able to virtually view a property live, in real time with the opportunity to ask the agent questions as they tour the property.

All of these products were built while Property Finder’s staff members continue to work from home.

Like all major industries, real estate has been impacted severely because of the Covid-19 outbreak. Lack of technology that allows virtual viewing of a property has been one contributing factor for transaction numbers dropping over the past few weeks. The launch of 360 tours and virtual tours was our first step and consumers who used these technologies  showed a 2 times more likelihood to contact a broker on the Property Finder website. The next step was to make those virtual tours live and give consumers the ability to interact with the agent in real time while they are doing the tour. 

In March 2020, Dubai saw a total of 3,098 sales transactions and 1,300 in April 2020 till date despite the 24 hour lockdown. According to Lynnette Abad, Director of Research and Data “The Property Finder portal has seen an increase of 7.76 per cent in total number of weekly sessions and an 8.77 per cent increase in leads since the launch of these new technologies on our website. As people are spending more time at home, they are searching for their next move, whether it’s a rental or property to buy. Most residents will likely not travel this summer and opt for staycations instead, therefore we will be fully ready once the lockdown lifts to provide our clients with every type of technology they need to quickly and successfully continue to close deals and engage with consumers online, virtually and in real time. 

This live streaming technology helps keep the agent at the center of the real estate transaction process while they maintain social distancing protocol with the consumers. Post Covid, consumers will be able to use this technology to see a lot more properties in a much shorter period without having to dedicate valuable time and be present at each property. 

Louise Heatley, Managing Director at Exclusive Links Real Estate Brokers and an early adopter to Live Viewings stated, “ Challenging times always brings about change and innovation. In "Live Viewings", PF have now introduced a superb product that is perfect for the times we live in, bringing clients closer to their new home without having to leave the comfort of their current home. Live Viewings will give our clients a true representation of the property and the ability to ask the agents any questions they wish as if they were there in person themselves. This is not just a product for now but for the future as we move towards faster and easier solutions.”

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