If you’d like to catch a video replay of this Connect Now session, and access the other 25+ hours of video content from Connect Now, tickets are still available. Click here to access.
With the coronavirus outbreak slow to flatten and wreaking havoc on the housing market, real estate agents across the country are feeling frustrated and lost. In reality, the need for their work has never been stronger, Century 21 CEO Mike Miedler said at Inman’s virtual real state conference, Connect Now, on Thursday.
Michael Miedler
Miedler said that signs of improvement and pent-up demand are already emerging clearly in states that opened up in the past few months. The initial panic of whether agents would have a job post-pandemic is being pushed out by a variety of new markets and housing needs that are currently emerging.
“Agents were asking if they would have a job and put food on the table,” Miedler said. “As soon as the government made it an essential business, things started busting open. As long as having a roof over your head is in style and in vogue, we will be needed. People still have to buy and sell.”
Miedler also pointed to China, where the coronavirus originated and where Century 21 has a large presence. After the virus was curbed and economies opened up, so did real estate — agents are seeing sales volume at the same rate as it was in November.
In the United States, the need for housing has changed, but has certainly not gone away. Agents are helping people find places to shelter, helping health workers locate new residences as they get transferred between hospitals and states, and helping people who have been hit financially sell off property.
Miedler said that questions such as “What’s my home worth?” or “How do I sell it safely?” are ones that people all over the country are currently relying on agents to answer.
“What people don’t recognize is just how many steps there are in the process that we help the consumer navigate,” he said. “From the day you make an offer and the day you get the keys, there are 100 different steps.”
That said, videos of police brutality and the ensuing protests have also shattered earlier myths that everyone is dealing with the pandemic equally. Miedler encouraged agents to stand up to inequality and use their power to help others achieve security in the form of housing.
“Whether we are the ones trying to provide housing or help with the dream of homeownership, we are the ones setting the tone for equality … we all need to do more not just in talking about it, but in our actions,” he said.
To wrap up, Miedler told agents to remain positive and continue doing their work with enthusiasm and dedication. Even though the industry is going through tough and uncertain times, agents who don’t give up and see new opportunities are going to come out strong.
“The real estate professionals who continue to put their people first, their consumers first, are going to continue to win in this industry just like they have 50 years ago,” Miedler said.
If you’d like to catch a video replay of this Connect Now session, and access the other 25+ hours of video content from Connect Now, tickets are still available. Click here to access.
