Once upon a time, before the coronavirus attack, Boston real estate companies were moving along with increasing usage to V blogs (video blogs) and “virtual” tours, for Beacon Hill apartments, and Beacon Hill condo showings. Not just in Boston, but throughout the country; lending, mortgage origination, and even home buyers were experimenting with web-based platforms.
However, the main marketing tool for selling Boston condos for sale was still the Open House. Every Sunday people would flock to Beacon Hill or the Boston Seaport to view the newest Boston real estate listings for sale.
Necessity is the MOTHER OF INVENTION
Plato is credited for coining the term “Necessity is the mother of invention.”
Now that we’ve been hit with the coronavirus, all of a sudden the necessity for changes are being thrust upon the Boston real estate community, and those buyers, sellers, and yes, even real estate agents that have been reluctant to adapt to these new inventions are now forced to adapt.
The future of the Boston real estate market
So what will all this mean for the longer-term trend in renting out Beacon Hill apartments or selling Beacon Hill condos? It’s impossible to know for sure, but educated speculation is certainly possible. I see a few possibilities:
1). Boston real estate brokers won’t decide the outcome, but Boston condo buyers and renters will. If Boston condo buyers that were mandated to convert to new technology by the coronavirus, in fact, turn out that they’re not yet ready for this evolution. In this case, once the virus is conquered – which it will be – society will return to the spot it was in prior to the virus. The standard Open House– in person will be back, with some safety measures put in place.
2). An alternative is that the newly adapt systems will stay in place and will evolve into a better user experience. Boston real estate brokers will “experiment” with new technologies and discover new “virtual” techniques, strategies, or preferences that were overlooked or not tried before. In this situation the long term growth curve of web-based activity will experience a sudden positive jump which may turn out to be permanent. Possibly even its time-based trend will increase as well.
Boston Real Estate and Bottom Line
Taking these two options together suggests that the long-run movement towards a more virtual Open House format is only likely to increase as a result of the coronavirus “shock”. A very unpleasant “Necessity” has once again become the mother of Invention and Evolution.
