Government restrictions on travel have made retirement village viewings difficult, and in some case impossible, but operators are findings creative ways around this.
And not all potential buyers are put off.
Stockland shared one story of a retiring couple in their mid-70s who’ve recently bought into the Queens Lake Retirement Village, more than 500kms away, despite never having seen it in person.
John and Rosemary Gooch say the reason they felt comfortable making such a big leap was the sales professional who handled the transaction.
After a full video walkthrough, Stockland’s Dea Gardner stayed in touch and made sure she was always on hand to answer the couple’s questions.
“Dea was marvellous – she did a video walkthrough for us, kept in close contact with us and answered any and all of our questions, no matter how small,” they said.
Dea says this attention to detail is key to getting potential residents over the line in these challenging conditions.
“I just kept in regular contact and made sure I had a lot of information to help them understand any concerns or questions they had,” Dea said.
“I made myself available to them entirely, having several conversations on what from their furnishings would or wouldn’t fit, and happily took measurements for them so they knew as much information as possible before moving. I think this relieved a lot of their stresses.”
