By Elaine Quigley
The demand for jigsaw puzzles has surged past levels typically seen only at Christmas. At the same time, Zoom meetings have rocketed from 10 million in the month of December to 200 million in March. The contradiction provides a clear picture of the new normal in America; some people have too much time on their hands. Others are still conducting business.
For real estate, in the age of COVID-19, it is decidedly a mixed bag.
“It’s challenging,” said Candace Adams, president and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway New England Properties, who oversees 1,800 agents across Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island. “Our pending sales for last week were 25 percent of what they were a year ago, same week. But we are working hard, adapting to life and business in this virtual environment, and we know there are opportunities out there.”
To capitalize on opportunity, Adams is focused on keeping her agents active, energized, and up to speed on virtual technologies.
“Many of our agents have been having a blast with virtual home tours for a while now, and our amazing tech team is now pushing out useful webinars two, three, sometimes four times a day – making best use of DocuSign, Dotloop transaction management, Matterport 3D home tours – skills that can help our agents take their business to the next level now and in future environments,” she said.
They are skills that are paying off for agents like Jeri Green, team leader, Prominent Properties Sotheby’s International Realty in Tenafly, N.J., who had her first virtual closing last week.
“It was terrific,” she said. “Electronic signings, FedEx’d documents, everything was virtual and it all went off without a hitch.”
Technology is helping to keep the lights on for companies across the country.
“We opened $14 million in new listings and $35 million in sales last week, the majority resulting from virtual open houses,” said Christy Budnick, president of Berkshire Hathaway Florida Network Realty in Jacksonville.
Still, Budnick anticipates a 30- to 50-percent reduction in sales through December. As a result, her executive team is focused on budget, she said, scrutinizing it line item by line item, cutting non-essentials, re-negotiating leases, and closely monitoring even routine expenses.
But morale is strong, she said, and with inventory tight and interest rates at historic lows, she sees plenty of room for new business for agents who work smart in the new normal.
“We are staying very connected,” Budnick said. “Ninja coaching, virtual sales meetings, even virtual cocktail hours have become a major part of our lives – and sharing best practices while we’re all on so much of a learning curve.”
The learning curve is proving invaluable for agents like Constance Leeson, a career agent with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Calhoon Company, Realtors, in Columbus, Ohio, whose photographer husband has been instrumental in preparing her for the new normal.
“We are producing video home tours that go beyond features and floorplans to include some of the little things that are important to buyers,” Leeson said. “We’re turning on faucets, flushing toilets, and peering into closets, the kinds of things every buyer, and especially virtual buyers, want to see up close.”
One such tour brought a quick offer from pre-approved local buyers.
“They needed to buy a larger home, and they have a son with asthma,” Leeson said. “They couldn’t take a chance on possible coronavirus exposure. The virtual tour was perfect for their needs. There were multiple offers, but theirs was the winning bid.”
Leeson, who serves as Calhoon Company’s relocation director, is also negotiating deals with several out-of-state buyers based solely on virtual home tours.
“It’s a great option and it’s clearly working,” said Ben Calhoon, a third-generation principal at Calhoon Company.
A working agent and a top producer himself, Calhoon foresees his business dropping by half through spring and even into summer.
“But I expect, given the pent-up demand,” he said, “that the fall season will be better than last fall.”
Given the patchwork of safety guidelines that vary widely from state to state, and by individual adherence to them, some brokers are concerned with indemnifying their firms against fallout from coronavirus infection in cases when property is shown in person.
“Early on in this crisis, while taking all possible sanitary measures in showing property, we created a listing addendum and a buyer advisory designed to let buyers and sellers know that we would not be responsible in the event someone became ill after a showing,” said Matt Deuitch, designated broker, DPR Realty, Phoenix, Ariz. “Customers need to understand that we are not healthcare professionals, and we can’t ensure the health or safety of any given home.”
While the company is experiencing an explosion in the use of virtual platforms from 3D home tours to remote closings, Deuitch said, he anticipates a 25- to 30-percent drop in revenue overall.
But the brokers and agents we spoke to maintain a sense of practical optimism.
“We are looking at this as a delayed spring market,” said New England’s Candace Adams. “Come July or August, I think it will be all we can do just to keep up with demand.”
Let me assist your family in becoming a Homeowner! I will put my years of experience in real estate to work for you…. knowledge, expertise, professionalism, reputation 508-735-5161, [email protected].
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Westborough, MA 01581
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