We all know that this is a weird time but for most of us in the real estate industry working from home is not that unusual. I have a group of five friends where all the wives are best friends and all the husbands are best friends as well. We go camping together, vacation together, and our kids babysit for each other often. It's a really beautiful and unusual relationship and I am so grateful for it. But, Tim and I are the only ones that actually work from home. All the other husbands leave every day to their jobs in downtown Seattle or Bellevue. But now, all of them are home with their kids and their spouses.
Tim and I also homeschooled for two years so this is nothing new to us but, to my friends, this is a completely new environment. This is a hard change but I do know that for a lot in the real estate industry, your business may be slowing down but it's not a time to stop marketing altogether. I am very thankful that none of our clients have canceled and they all see the value in continuing marketing during this time.
This is not forever… We will get through this and things will be back to normal at some point. I don't know if that's in a month, three months, or a year, but real estate has been deemed essential in most states and many people had their houses on the market before this all began. Those people still need to sell and there are people that still need to buy.
While we shouldn't give up completely, we can quickly adjust and adapt to the changing environment. I've seen a lot of businesses do this to protect their employees and their clients and I think the real estate industry needs to do that as well. Tim and I recently refinanced our home and we did everything online or over the phone. I literally only spoke to my lender once over the phone, the rest was done with his assistant and through e-signatures and secure emails. I scanned and transferred everything online and when we finally signed the closing documents, we had one notary come to our house, sit at our dining room table, and sign everything.
Some of our clients are even offering a zero contact mortgage right now where you can do everything, including the final signing over your smartphone or electronically. Zoom meetings have exploded and people are doing so much virtually. I've even had a few Zoom meetings with those girlfriends because we miss each other's company so much. --->
But now is definitely not the time to stop marketing. If you need to cut back slightly it's understandable but, when things rebound, those that have kept marketing through this time are the ones that are going to come out ahead. It may even be time to up your marketing. Promote yourself more so that when the time comes for the general public to intersperse among each other again, you are the one that comes to mind for mortgages, appraisals, inspections, and a real estate agent.
Don't ever stop marketing!
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