Property360Digest E-MAGAZINE Issue#5 | Page 29

A phone call gets you right to the point. It is the most effective means of communication. opinion on the matter now, two hours later (after already deciding) and he has a valid point why you shouldn’t have proceeded with your action? A little too late to change your course, right? Well, it would be good if everyone were to maintain speaking over the phone instead of online meeting software. Ask questions about what you were speaking about in random to random participants. This may work, but it is actually counterproductive. Distractions, aplenty. You would think I’m joking but sometimes you may get distracted or distract others with the sounds of your neighbour’s rooster crowing, or your dog barking at the next-door neighbour’s cat. What about the times where your children decide to fight and make so much of noise that it is heard from your work room? The most common situation is the arrival of the delivery guy. ‘Ding Dong’ the doorbell goes off and you rush to pick up your food that is being delivered to your doorstep. You rush back to the Zoom meeting only to have missed what your GM was saying for the past 60 seconds (that’s approximately 150 words). It could have been something important and it would be rude for you to ask him to repeat himself because you needed to excuse yourself. Let’s look at this from a property point of view. If you are interested in purchasing a property that is priced at half a million ringgit and you inquire the assistance of several real estate agents. One agent sends you a 3D 360 virtual tour video of the property for you to view while another agent invites you to view the property at the site (of course with proper social distancing measures in place). Instead of walking with you, he drives his car in front of yours and speaks to you over the mobile as you drive around the township, giving you an actual feel of the development and then proceeds to view of the actual show unit from a distance. Who do you think you would prefer to purchase from? We have to remember the fact that the world has not changed. Norms have not changed. It’s just a situational change and normalisation will kick in as soon as things are no longer as critical as it currently is. Charles Tan is founder of leading independent property blog kopiandproperty.com which has close to 500,000 visits per year. In 2019, he spoke in 52 public real estate events in Malaysia and Singapore. His views and articles have appeared in major media offline and online. PROPERTY360DIGEST 29