How Echo is Handling Safety and Sales with Covid

Here is an email we received this week from a client after we informed them of a Covid positive test from an in-house vendor of ours that was in their home….

“Thank you for your email. We hope you remain well and will not experience any serious health issues.  We appreciate that the team from Echo Fine Properties has practiced all appropriate health and safety measures to conduct business.  The photos are beautiful. We are both fine and wish you well.  Best Regards”

Our in-house vendor sent me an email one evening this week regarding a positive Covid test at the rapid test center.  He/she while being asymptomatic was going to a wedding and getting tested was a prerequisite. That person is also getting a molecular test which supposedly yields more accurate results. We then contact-traced any of our agents and clients where there was contact.

Fortunately, their contact with people has been minimal as we have a Covid Policy Manual that everyone has signed off on, and an Extensive Virtual Marketing Strategy and Plan. We do this to keep ourselves healthy and safe and our clients healthy and safe.  Many of our clients are older and might already have underlying conditions. Same with our team. Some of our agents have spouses or parents that have compromised immune symptoms, so we are being as cautious as possible.

We literally kick our clients out of the house when taking photos, videos, and the 3D-VR tour of their home (Search 3D VR Homes here). We do this to limit any exposure for everyone’s benefit. While we love to show and tell what we do on the spot, it is a minor inconvenience because no one wants a call that you have been in the vicinity of Covid.

On this addition of Real Estate Roundtable, (Watch at ECHO TV LIVE  or on ECHO Facebook we discuss how Real Estate in general has changed since Covid, how Echo is specifically handling it both internally and to the public, and how the mortgage and title companies are also changing.

• Office and Training
  • Mask policy when entering the office, in a conference room, or in hallways
  • Conference room with limited people to practice social distancing – and mask wearing enforced
• Online Training
  • Agent training with weekly meetings and individual training on both tech side and infield instruction and collaboration
• In-Field
  • Agents must wear masks in the home
  • Social distancing rules observed
  • Our In-House Vendors 1 at a time with client not present in the house
  • In Person open houses with no more than 4 people at a time. Must wear a mask and social distance
  • Both agents and all clients must wear a mask
  • Clients turn lights on and off if house is not vacant
  • Optional – Wear booties if clients request
• Marketing (The more done = the more a home we are marketing shows up in search results).
  • WE PAY for all marketing and advertising and have a full 57 promise Home ECHOnomics Guarantee
  • The highest quality Matterport 3D-VR Tours for every listing no matter the price point. Complete with Dollhouse Views and Floor plans. This increases showings in search results by 150%!
  • Video for every listing. Increases showings dramatically from YouTube and other places for video
  • Open House Streaming exclusively through ECHO TV LIVE and emailed to our database
  • Steamed to all our social media outlets (approximately 100 different channels)
  • 8 Page animated brochures
  • Search 3D VR Homes
• Other
  • Vendors that are doing things with less contact like Title Closing and Mortgage assistance.

Jeff Lichtenstein is owner and broker of Echo Fine Properties, a luxury real estate brokerage selling real estate in Jupiter  and homes in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He has 20 years of real estate experience, has closed over a 1,000 transactions, and manages over 50 agents in a non-traditional model of real estate that mimics a traditional business model.  Some publications he has been quoted in.

Feel free to ask him a question directly at jeff@EchoFineProperties.com.