Page 154 - South Mississippi Living - May, 2017

TOP PRODUCERS sold
A MODERN WAY
of buying homes
story by Susan Ruddiman
Technology keeps evolving in every facet of life. It’s so advanced in today’s real estate market that it’s possible to buy a home without stepping foot in it.
Danny Lee with Ashman-Mollere Realty in Waveland recently sold
a house to a couple who didn’t see the property until the closing. “This couple had been in the area for weeks looking at houses. Literally, the week they left to go home, this house became available,” Lee said.
Though it was not in a neighborhood they were familiar with, the house had all the features they were looking for. Lee used FaceTime to walk the couple through the house, thus giving them a virtual tour from the comfort of their home. He had a successful sale through the use of technology now available to real estate agents.
Joe Rogers, chief executive officer for the Gulf Coast Association
of Realtors, said he would be uncomfortable selling a house
to someone who has never seen
it though he can understand it happening if the buyer is in Alaska or overseas. At the best, close relatives
or a friend could possibly be sent
to look over the property. “But,
the technology is available to do it without physically seeing it,” he said.
Both Rogers and Lee feel the concept of purchasing property sight unseen is done in more metropolitan high- demand markets where listings don’t last long. Nationally, a survey by Business Wire revealed that one in five homebuyers have made offers without physically visiting the property.
A majority of the homebuyers today are digitally savvy, so they will initiate their search online. Lee
said quite often by the time he is contacted by a person looking to purchase a home, the person already has researched the area home market online. “Most buyers who come to me already have a list together,” he said.
When the buyer makes an offer on a house, electronic signatures and file management software make it possible to email offers and counter- offers.
“I don’t know how agents used to do it with the multiple listings book, and running offers back and forth. We rarely even use a fax machine now,” Lee said.
154 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • May 2017
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