Real estate agents’ approach – what went wrong and what needs to be changed?

 Many of them have lost the sense of reality

Bogdan Georgescu (photo), president of real estate advisor, Colliers International says many real estate agents have lost their sense of reality over the past few years and focused more on profit-making activities, to the detriment of education and long-term development.

“As long as the market was growing at an annual 50% rate, I would say this approach was rather normal especially in a country where the success is measured in cash or premium cars. I remember that almost a year ago, a Swiss banker was explaining to me the philosophy of asset management in his home country, and I just couldn’t grasp the concepts of «risk classes», «long term», or «financial planning»,” said the head of Colliers.

It is still too soon for a generalized change in Romanian agents’ behavior. Nevertheless, he hopes Romanians understood that the past years’ frenzy was not normal, same as the current lockdown will not last forever.

“From now on, I hope the success of the market will lie upon education, hard work and consistency rather than speculations. What Romanian real estate agents did wrong was their failure to aim attention at education and long-term professional training. Unfortunately, this is a major problem we find in all sectors of the economy, rooted in the outdated and weak teaching system,” said the president of Colliers.

The economic downturn in Romania did not stem from real estate industry, but the other way around, the market being impacted by the generalized economic standstill and panic. We don’t have the experience and wisdom to prudently invest the money earned over night, and this will enable crisis to wipe out many of the fortunes built up over the past three-four years, says Georgescu. However, this downturn will make us understand better what many people in the West learned from their parents and grandparents.

“I wished I had seen an increased focus to consistency, quality and education that could work to establish a market balance and an improvement of the sector’s image. I am convinced that this crisis will lead to an exodus from the real estate industry, and few people will remain in the business, in contrast with the past years, which I hope to lead to an upgrade of services to clients”, Bogdan Georgescu concluded.

Client Care and Quality Control – new concepts for real estate agents

Razvan Gheorghe, Partner and Managing Director of Cushman & Wakefield Romania, says the current economic context has broadened the new concepts such as Client Care and Quality Control in the life of real estate agents and advisors. Clients are now more selective and in default of a professional approach, or an ethical framework, the service will never be earned by agents.

“Every consultant must understand that the standard of the real estate services is high and that it can have only one meaning, regardless to the company you work for. This means that the requirements are the same for all agents and applicable both for small and large companies”, Razvan Gheorghe said.