It's hard to sell a home, when you're confined to home, but Berkshire Hathaway Home Services is trying to stay active.

The company will conduct a virtual open house through a Zoom conference call from 1 to 1:45 p.m. Sunday for more than 70 listed properties.

“We realized there was still a demand to buy and sell homes during this time,” said Tom Hosack, president and CEO. “We took a look at our analytics and saw a spike in local web traffic and the time spent on our website. We took this as an opportunity to give these homes more visibility to the public.”

Interested parties will access the call via the internet. Upon entry, they will be muted. The real estate agent will be at their own home, not at the listed home, and they will narrate the tour for the potential buyer. The seller will also be muted and using a camera, moving from room to room to show off the property.

“This one is a little more involved because the agents can't leave their homes. These open houses are being done virtually, live,” said Kris Callen manager of the Butler Regional office.

Callen said to this point, potential buyers have been able to view a limited virtual tour showing photos only through the company's website.

But for some who want to see multiple homes, the one-hour time frame may present a problem.

“If they're interested in one, the Realtor has the option to record their Zoom they can share at a later date,” she said.

Callen said there are a lot of elements that happen when seeing, buying and selling a home.

“It's not a replacement for an in-person open house,” she said. “It's appeasing the public clients, buyers and all of our clientele in the meantime.”

While Callen said she and her clients would prefer an in-person approach, she understands how technology can help bridge the gap that the pandemic has presented.

“We've been forced to change,” Callen said. “We're lucky we have a talented marketing team to rise to the challenge and adapt on the fly.”

To access the virtual tour, participants need to visit the Berkshire Hathaway Home Services website.