Behind the scenes: A special atmosphere

A special atmosphere at Ginesta Immobilien AG Although we assumed that we would also have less to do since the lockdown, we are still constantly on the go. You may be wondering how that is? Yes, that's what I've been asking myself over the last few days, so let's take a quick look back at how our day-to-day business has gone over the last few days.

Date

6.4.2020

Author

gin001-s

Over the last few days, many people have probably placed a higher priority on the topic of “housing”. After all, the motto “staying at home” first and foremost means having a home that is habitable. I think that’s why many people are now at home and getting inspiration by looking at beautiful properties. Our support team has its hands full. We receive more requests for our Real Estate documentation by email every day. That makes us very happy! The documents are sent out immediately by e-mail. This results in several requests for viewings. For the most part, we comply with them. Our estate agents strictly adhere to the current rules of conduct:

Sufficient distance
Greeting without shaking hands
Disinfect in advance for all touchpoints such as door traps, cabinets and other touchpoints
Of course, these properties are no longer occupied and can be viewed without danger
We no longer offer personal tours of occupied properties, especially those occupied by older people. However, these properties can be visited virtually

We have created many virtual tours and films over the last few days. Our real estate professionals and film and photo partners have been working hard to create a true-to-life representation of our offering for our customers during this difficult time. And all within just a few days!

For people who do not want to come to view a property in person, we now also offer the option of one of our real estate experts walking through the property with a live camera and presenting it. Meanwhile, the prospective buyer sits in front of the screen at home and is guided through the rooms online and in real time. Questions are answered on the spot by the real estate expert during the live broadcast. All of this is now possible thanks to video chats such as Whats-Up, Facetime, Microsoft Teams, Zoom or Google Hangout.

Our CEO, Claude Ginesta, seized the opportunity and prepared all sorts of things to ensure that we employees don’t remain idle and, not least, motivated. New administrative tools now need to be tested and implemented. And we’re not talking about video chats, which we also launched at the very beginning. That was just the beginning of a sustainable digitalization process that can now proceed at breakneck speed. Processes are being optimized and integrated into new programs, digital templates are being updated and existing processes are being questioned. This challenges me and all my colleagues. It’s fun to be part of it now and to feel that this corona crisis also has its good side. It goes without saying that most of us are connecting and talking to each other from our home offices. But that also meant getting things up and running at the beginning of the crisis, and thank goodness that was successful.

Of course, like every SME in Switzerland, we are suffering financially as a result of the coronavirus crisis. I am thinking, for example, of our office in St. Moritz, where the second home business for vacation apartments immediately and drastically collapsed after the sports vacations in February. Buying interest in international real estate also seems to be waning rapidly at the moment. But we all know that the crisis will end at some point and then we at Ginesta Immobilien will be back at the starting line for all our clients with many optimized processes.

Christina Maron, responsible for marketing and operations at Ginesta Immobilien AG