Without a real estate agent, no project moves forward. Blood is the salesman, heart is the salesman. - Wayne Wheeler.
SANTO DOMINGO.- If you are one of those agents who believes that the sale begins with the construction of the building and ends with the delivery of the keys to the buyers, pay attention to what this experienced developer proposes and you may have to change your theory.
"The real estate agent can start selling from the structuring stage. They never stop selling; even after the sale, when the keys are handed over, you don't stop providing service. As long as the client is satisfied, you can continue selling. The sale isn't complete with the signing, the commission payment, or even the handover of the keys, because the service you provide to the client is your best calling card and the best strategy for continuing to sell your future projects.".
This is the opinion of Wayne Wheeler, who presented the topic "Development of a Real Estate Project", in the last Masterclass of the year held last Wednesday, December 1, 2021, by the AEI, Association of Real Estate Agents and Companies, before more than 150 participants connected in virtual mode.
The speaker is a civil engineer with a background in business administration, vice president of business development, and co-founder of ABODE Construction. He has developed his professional career in the United States, Argentina, and Haiti, and is currently involved in a project in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic.
Wheeler understands that real estate agents are called upon to offer increasingly greater benefits to their clients. “We don’t sell homes, we sell well-being. It’s no longer about selling, but about adding value,” he asserts.
Even after the one-year warranty offered by construction companies on housing projects ends, the agent's role is to continue supporting the buyer, "we want the after-sales service to become a sale, hence our reputation is worth much more than what we earn on a project.".
For this experienced developer, who has been involved in the industry for ten years, no construction project moves forward without the presence of a real estate agent, because the lifeblood is sales, the heart is the salesperson.”.
He recommends that real estate agents clearly define their target audience, because this makes their work more efficient, avoids returns, and excludes people who are not identified with the project.
A walk through the construction process
For more than three hours, the AEI guest guided the audience through the different stages of the development of a real estate project: structuring, pre-construction, sale, construction and after-sales.
“It all starts with the land; that's what determines everything: the product that can be placed there, the size, the price. There's no such thing as a bad location; we just have to align our target audience,” he stated.
He spoke about trusts, kitchens, bathrooms, the different materials involved in construction, and the complexity of building permits. He explained to those who didn't know the difference between concrete and cement, etc.
He spoke of innovations, highlighting the existence of pre-printed houses, which can be delivered in just one day. He also mentioned modular kitchens, which, in his opinion, are the most widely used today due to their variety, convenience, and a major advantage: they are termite-resistant.
The unavoidable topic of COVID-19 was not left aside. People want solutions; now, after the pandemic, everyone wants to have everything included at home, to do everything they used to do outside, but inside their own home.
