Realtors go virtual - COVID-19 building ­creativity in sector

Like many other service ­providers, ­realtors Kaili McDonnough Scott and Rebecca Tulloch Stephenson aren’t sitting around waiting for the pandemic to end. Instead, these agents, who work for Coldwell Banker Jamaica Realty, are figuring out more ways to reach clients at this time, even though they are unable to interface with them in the same ways that they used to.

The new normal for selling real estate entails a lot less physical exchanges with clients and more virtual interaction. Throughout the, pandemic expanding their presence on social media was at the top of their list, and also recording a podcast.

“We had this idea months ago to start recording a podcast, but we were so busy with work and life that we couldn’t find the time to settle down and just do it,” Tulloch Stephenson said. “For us, having the time to finally record this podcast is one of the more positive things to have come from this downtime,” she added.

EASY EXPERIENCE

Their podcast, Island Realtors, is ­produced by podcast host and entertainment personality, Tami Chin Mitchell, who produces her own podcast, Tami Tackles Everything. “Working with Tami has been easy, as not only is she a close friend, but she understands the dynamics of ­reaching audiences online,” says McDonnough Scott.

Island Realtors is a platform where both agents discuss “all things real estate” in Jamaica. The podcast was launched last month on iTunes Podcasts and Castbox and has touched on ­topics such as the fallout of Airbnb since COVID-19 and housing/space design in the future with the now-needed home office.

Just last summer, Coldwell Banker broker, Andrew Issa, decided to move the company’s Hope Road office to a smaller space on Barbican Road. The move was primarily geared to getting agents in the mindset of working from home more, being in the office less and forming a more virtual experience with clients.

“In real estate, the transition started a few years ago, with brokerages removing the cubicles and making offices smaller, but with more meeting space for agents to engage in more one-on-one time with their clients,” Issa says.

Throughout the years, Issa has used other channels to reach clients, such as KUYA magazine, the real estate and lifestyle magazine that is published by Coldwell Banker, to expanding the ­company’s social-media coverage to include videos and drone footage. The company is now starting to expand its marketing into 360-degree view videos, where ­clients can view properties ­virtually and intricately from the comfort of their own homes. “Video has always been highly engaging and we are seeing a trend where clients want more of this,” Issa adds.