Want to succeed? Go digital, agents told
Real Estate
By
James Wanzala
| Jul 16, 2015
Real estate agents have been urged to be tech-savvy if they want to be successful in this 21st century where nearly everything is digital.
Speaking during the second agents networking workshop recently in Nairobi, Eric Muli, an IT manager with Remax Kenya, said real estate agents have to move with the technological wave and legal framework to take their businesses to the next level.
“According to the latest statistics, 35 per cent of the world is already online, and the rest are being reached daily and are coming on board. Four billion are using YouTube, one billion Facebook and mobile accounts for 100 per cent of consumers’ time. Where will you be if you do not join the bandwagon?” asked Muli.
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He said that the number of Internet users had risen from 23 million in 2013 to 40 million in 2015.
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A good real estate agent, he said, is on who also keeps tabs on market activity knowledge, negotiation and law, among other things.
He said that soon there will be minimal physical contacts since clients are searching for information about land, houses to buy or rent online.
This, he said, meant real estate agents do not have to navigate through the traffic to meet potential clients. He also urged them to be conversant with legal matters.
Wachuka Kebuchi, owner of Remax Mahale, a franchise of Remax, took the audience through marketing strategies.
The monthly event was organised by BuyRent Kenya under the theme, Throw Back Thursday Mixer with BuyRent Kenya.
It is aimed at promoting networking, mentorship and professional development of industry partners in the Kenyan real estate sector.
BuyRent Kenya marketing manager Lizzie Costabir noted that there was a need to move with the times as advertising techniques had changed over the years.
Elsewhere, the Knight Frank Prime Global Rental Index reported that luxury residential rents in Nairobi remained stable in the first three months of the year.
The quarterly report, showed no movement in high-end rents in the city between December 2014 and March 2015.
The slowdown was anticipated from as early as the beginning of 2014, with the capital’s luxury residential market coming to a demand-supply equilibrium that was bound to tilt in favour of existing and prospective tenants.
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