Loan Officer & Real Estate Agent Professional Tips

Over the last few years, it has proven difficult to conduct what were once basic business practices in the world of real estate. Suddenly, governments around the world began to shut down access to public areas, restrict citizen and commercial movement, and overall place speed bumps in the middle of nearly everything possible to curb the spread of infection.

Over that time, remote communication took over as the primary way for real estate agents and loan officers to speak to their clients and facilitate deals, and it has worked quite well for about three years, now.

However, as those restrictions ease up, and the public begins to return to their normal lives in many parts of the globe, there’s one big question on the mind of every professional.

Should we go back to how things were with face-to-face interactions?

The answer to that is both yes and no.

Let’s dive into the pros and cons of face-to-face interactions and how they should be handled.

Face-to-Face Interactions as We Knew Them

With the easing of restrictions, it’s easy to assume those in our field can return to restriction-free interactions with clients on a daily basis, but the truth of the matter is that can still be a damaging prospect.

Bringing clients into the office, or meeting large groups face-to-face, on a frequent basis can still leave you and your co-workers exposed to Covid-19 and force you to shut down operations until the infection has been dealt with.

This can spell disaster for the profits of your firm, damage public reputation, and otherwise create the same exact problems it has been for the last three years.

That doesn’t mean we have to keep hiding behind screens, though.

Adopting Interactions to Meet Current-Day Requirements

While Covid-19 is still a threat to the real estate industry, that doesn’t mean there haven’t been advancements that can make face-to-face interactions possible, again.

The number of vaccinations has increased dramatically on a global scale since last year, and that alone provides a bit of relief. The public has also become more open to taking precautions when interacting with businesses after the years-long fight to return to a pre-Covid lifestyle, and that helps make it more plausible for the industry to enact safety precautions of its own without hindering business opportunities.

Here are some of the ways your real estate agency or loan office can bring back face-to-face communication and deal brokering without posing a risk to itself and the public:

• Vaccinate to protect staff and clients
• Limit face-to-face groups to one-on-one interactions
• Practice good hygiene
• Frequently clean surfaces and materials between interactions
• Ensure proper ventilation and personal space during face-to-face interactions

Face-to-Face Interaction can Return: With a Bit of Responsibility

As you can see, it’s alright for us to return to face-to-face communication with clients. However, simply returning to how things were in 2019 isn’t the best way to do it. It requires striking a balance between personal responsibility, reasonable safety measures, and returning to normal.

If you can strike that balance, it’s time to reap the rewards of once again engaging clients in a more personal, face-to-face manner.