'TikTok changed my life.' Real estate agents find huge success on the app - Property News AU/NZ | propertynoise.co.nz & propertynoise.com.au

PHOTO: TikTok for real estate agents

New York (CNN)In the midst of a global pandemic, the real estate market has been on fire.

Demand for homes has soared, pushing prices up to record levels. Competition is so intense that homes are selling in record time, with multiple bids and all-cash offers.

NZ real estate agents marketing on TikTok | WATCH

Last year, a Zillow survey showed that 36% of buyers would even purchase a property sight unseen. But despite all the desperate buyers willing to skip the in-person showing, most people still expect to actually see a home first.

During the height of the pandemic, real estate agents across the country discovered that social media platform TikTok was an ideal way to safely show prospective buyers homes. Now, some are saying the video app has revolutionized the way they sell real estate — and it is here to stay.

Hundreds of inquiries for one property

Madison Sutton is a 25-year-old agent in New York City. She specializes in off-market deals and what she calls “hidden-treasure apartments.” But during the pandemic, she was scraping the barrel for leads because so many people were moving out of the city.

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Sutton created her TikTok account, @TheNYCAgent, in early 2020. She had “no expectations for it whatsoever,” citing the pandemic as the catalyst for starting her account. But as soon as she started posting apartment tours on the app, she said interest in her TikTok and her properties spiked.

“There were days I was getting two or four hundred inquiries for one apartment,” she recalled. “What TikTok did, I couldn’t have expected or planned or calculated in my entire lifetime. It’s completely changed my life.”

Sutton said 100% of her business now comes from TikTok, and her commissions have almost doubled.

New York real estate agent Madison Sutton started showcasing homes on TikTok at the beginning of the pandemic. Now, she gets 100% of her business from TikTok.

Nearly three-quarters of TikTok users spend more than an hour on the app weekly, according to Statista. The endless scroll and use of algorithms keep users coming back for more. It’s this format that Sutton finds an asset. “Where else in New York City could you see 10 apartments in 10 minutes other than TikTok?,” Sutton said.

NZ real estate agents. You need to be on TikTok | WATCH

And while typical house hunters fret over scheduling in-person tours, online-savvy ones can view in-depth videos that Sutton makes with the flick of a finger.

Part of what makes TikTok so useful for real estate agents is the quick-fire video interface and algorithmically curated For You page. Videos that appear on a user’s For You page are collected according to their unique interests, region, search history, and interactions with advertisers. Because TikTok uses such engagement metrics to determine interest in a video, a new content creator does not need a large following or paid promotion for their video to go viral and reach a broad audience.

It took Fort Worth, Texas, realtor Prince Whiting just a week on the platform to get his first hit. Since creating @TheHouseofWhiting in January 2021, he has amassed 2.2 million likes on his videos. The exposure he gets on his content is virtually free, unlike his previous method of paid print advertising.