Selling Real Estate Services during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This month the Carey Connector is addressing a question that is being raised due to the COVID-19 pandemic as to whether real estate agents should be selling right now.

Connecting people and property through innovative processes that help them achieve their real estate investment goals.

REAL ESTATE AGENTS AND BROKERS SHOULD BE SELLING THEIR SERVICES NOW MORE THAN EVER.

In this business of real estate where connecting people is the primary outcome for a transaction to occur, these are certainly challenging times but the question that many industry professionals, along with the general public, are asking right now of whether agents selling is the right or wrong thing to do is highlighting a misunderstanding of this industry.

Where this discussion falls into contradicting opinions that lead to arguments is when agents or their customers and prospects believe that the agent is the one selling the property. A good friend of mine, Attorney George Megaloudis of Simple Title Closing & Escrow, and a professional in this business once said to me:

"Never forget that this is not about us"

It is not about us, it is our customer's property that is being sold, purchased, or leased. As agents, we provide valuable services to our customers to broker those transactions.

Real estate agents are selling their advisory services to help buyers, sellers, investors, landlords, and tenants. Whether these customers are individuals, families, partnerships or businesses, agents are providing services through proven processes and their experience in connecting people and property to help their customers achieve their goals. In addition, they have inside knowledge of the changes that are impacting the industry both from a high-level government policy perspective, as well as from an on the ground people and process perspective.

Although the primary service provided by agents, or at least the most visible service, is the sale of the property, agents are not the ones selling the property. They are brokering the sale of the property for their customer. Again, it is not about us, it is our customer’s home, multifamily, office space, industrial park, or apartment that is being sold.

Throughout the process of selling our advisory services, we are helping customers see beyond the headlines by providing them with market knowledge, historical data, proven strategies, and risk analysis while weighing these factors to build and align the right strategy to achieve their goals.

In addition to providing this knowledge and understanding of fluctuations in the market and how that might impact the transaction, we utilize the tools and connections available to us as professionals to drive the transaction and produce the best outcomes for our customers.

All of these services are now more valuable than ever to customers who are evaluating what their next move will be with their real estate needs. Taking the time to develop and enhance our knowledge is extremely important for our industry right now, but even more important is providing compassion and understanding of each individual customer's needs and goals.

At the end of the day, customers are not hiring agents to go around and show properties. They want and need our guidance now more than ever to help them make informed decisions on what to do next with their real estate transactions. We must be there for our customers during this time by listening to them and helping by providing advice and options along with recommendations to set them on the path to meet their goals.

My fellow agents, if you think you are selling your ability to open doors and show properties then yes you should stop selling right now, but if you are like me and are proud of the advisory services you provide your customers and the value derived by selling those services to your customers then, by all means, keep on selling.

Provide advice, knowledge, and compassion to your customers by selling your advisory services. To do anything less would be a disservice to the public and our profession.

Stay safe my friends. We got this.