Estate agency recruitment firm boss, Josh Rayner, is curious.
He wants to know what agents are thinking about their working practices and how their careers might be influenced when we start to exit the Covid-19 lockdown.
The questions have been put into a poll of agents across the country that Rayner hopes will provide a ‘temperature check’ through the industry.
Specifically, do the industry rank and file believe, indeed accept, that post-lockdown they will just go back to normality?
Do they want to go back to an office based work-life?
Crucially, how many will see this as an opportunity to change direction?
How many of those currently furloughed or laid off intend to simply exit agency altogether?
“Coronavirus has challenged our thinking, the way we have had to work of late, and has challenged our industry’s very viability,”says Rayner.
“Are we heading for business as normal when the restrictions are lifted or is there something more fundamentally transformational going on under the surface that suggests that bosses should expect a seachange?”
“If so, what do they need to prepare for, perhaps new ways of working?
“What is the scale of this challenge and, more importantly, opportunity?
To take part in the poll, which is open for one week, click here.
It’s likely that, if there are very, very low levels of business post-lockdown ending, then estate agency as we know it will change dramatically, probably for ever, depending on how long “nothing is happening”. And sadly employees will not simply be thinking “they might like to do something else”, they will have to, because there will not be enough jobs in agency.
However, if, and it is quite a big if, the market starts off busy, then yes, there will be changes going forward, but staff (probably reduced levels) will be caught up in doing what they did before lock-down and in many cases will swiftly settle back into their previous routines, their key focus being “to make money” Long term however, some of the new practices we have adopted during lockdown, may well become part of what we do. But do not underestimate the psychological impact of people working from home and /or not having been able to go to work and earn their living.
Given the opportunity, people will relish returning to work with a renewed vigour (and need for cash) to dig deeper than they did pre-lockdown. Before lock down, we had three and a half years of pent-up Brexit delay, (wow didn’t that seem child’s play now?) which we saw create some momentum in the market in the first 2 months of 2020 . That’s not gone away and indeed for some, Covid19 will make it more necessary than ever to move.
And then, sadly there will be a plethora of casualties resulting from lockdown, who will also be forced to sell for a number of unfortunate reasons. It’s likely prices will fall some, but perhaps not by as much as some soothsayers are predicting, unless there is literally no market post -lockdown.
But prices falling has not stopped people moving previously. For some, it accelerates the need to do so and for others, it shrinks the differential between what they sell and buy at, so is positive. Britain is resilient and whilst we must not underestimate the damage that Covid19 has done (and will continue to do whilst lockdown exist) we are going to claw our way back from this.
The Property Market will be a significant force in making this happen. It too is resilient and we in the industry must do everything in our power to help reinforce people’s thinking about moving home.
It feels like we have been in this war for years but it’s only been afew weeks. But it WILL end and we must all be ready to adapt, embrace and positively impact whatever we have to work with when restrictioins are eased or lifted.
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Will the industry recover? Of course it will, the market will always be there. It hasn’t stopped but forced to be put temporarily on hold. It is possible that some will not weather the storm, some were struggling before Covid-19 appeared on the horizon be it employee or business. Will it increase working from home? Take a step back and you will see the likes of on-liners failing year after year, going bankrupt when the times were good and now … they are stuffed.
What this tragic events has shown is there is more security for the rank and file employee is NOT being self employed!
The fundamentals of Estate Agency is customer service and the necessity of face to face contact to be really successful, proven time and again. You might think you can do things differently but do your customers want it? So many people have tried, but is often centred around short cuts, (I don’t have to work as hard?) by reducing fees and service. Not one has been an overall success. Covid-19 has not changed the market from needing a high street presence and all the service is provides.
Embrace technology but never allow it to dictate or take over your business.
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