Would you? Reports of more agents sealing deals via social media
The Evening Standard highlights buyers who made a purchase on Facebook, and 'agents' selling on Instagram.
Detailed reports of ‘agents’ using social media platforms to sell homes are appearing in major newspapers.
The Evening Standard, London’s main title, has just run an article highlighting how some buyers have turned to Instagram or Facebook despite the danger of losing their money.
The Standard story describes how buyers and sellers are also turning to TikTok and YouTube to strike property deals.
It shows how one woman bought a house via Facebook Messenger, after her purchase deal fell through a week before exchange. But it also details how another was nearly conned by a fraudster pretending to own a property and demanding a deposit upfront.
Unstoppable rise
Social media ‘property stars’, or ‘agents’, who sell homes using Instagram, are featured in the piece titled ‘Would you buy your home on Instagram? The unstoppable rise of social property selling’.
One ‘agent’, who has sold homes worth a total of £20 million, stressed the role of social media was just to market a property. “There is still a whole process of actually buying the home: seeing the property, speaking to a qualified professional, going through a lawyer, getting a mortgage.”
Savills and Knight Frank are leading the way amongst large agents using social media, with the highest number of followers on their Instagram accounts, the article reports.
“A good personal relationship between agent and client can be crucial.”
Nathan Emerson (pictured), CEO at Propertymark, says: “New technology should absolutely be embraced but as a property deal progresses, a good personal relationship between agent and client can be crucial in helping to ensure a smooth progression from first inquiry through to completion, and to remove the risk of buyers, sellers or renters falling victim to scams similar to the one detailed in the Evening Standard article.”