The Future of Property Investment: Balancing Technology and In-Person Viewings

In this hi-tech era should you still invest time and money in physically viewing properties as part of your investment process ? Yes.

As long as you do it the right way. Here are a few hacks:

– Arrive early for your scheduled viewing. There are at least 3 benefits to doing this:
#1 you only get one chance to make a great first impression
#2 you get the chance to look at things and walk around in your own time and at your own pace
#3 look at notice boards in the reception area (they can be revealing…)

– Take the stairs to go up up and the lift to go down. Other than a good work-out, taking the stairs going up will give you a different perspective to the overall conditions of the complex. Going up slowly will give you time to watch out for important signs like broken windows, overall cleanliness of common areas, presence of duly serviced fire-extinguishers (check out the service stickers) and noise levels.

– Come prepared. Run your Lightstone Property Sectional Title Scheme Report (if you are viewing a sectional title unit) before you come to the viewing. You will be able to ask more informed questions and get more value from your engagement with the seller and / or the agent. Access to this type of reports is one of the many great benefits of the membership to our PropertyHack.Club

– Write down a Visit Report within 15′ from the end of the visit. Capture what you have seen and observed. You will forget in 1 day, 1 week, 1 month and many deals will happen long after you have seen the property for the 1st time (if you want to buy below market value). Don’t rely on your memory. Once you have seen 20 properties, your memory will play tricks on you.

It is always the right time to buy the right property, in the right area, at the right price

Carlo Mariani
ThePropertyCoach