Featured Photographer – Anton Brookes
March 9, 2020
Welcome to the H5Blog! In light of the difficulties that everyone is currently facing, we have decided to deviate a little from the blog’s original purpose. We are still going to mainly focus on interviewing agents, developers, and photographers, but we will be shifting the conversation to explore the many ways that the real estate industry can manage the challenges that this crisis presents to everyone in the field. So let me present to you our first interview in our new series titled “Marketing in a Crisis”.
We sat down and spoke with Ramin Oddin, a real estate agent in Norway, to discuss with him the strategies he’s employing to successfully market properties during a lockdown.
How long have you been selling real estate? And how long have you been using H5|Property to create your marketing assets?
I’ve been working as an agent on my own for two years now, but before that I worked for another agent that was one of the biggest in Oslo. I liked working for someone, but now I just want to work for myself. I really like to do everything by myself. Before, when I was working for someone else, my work was to manage everything for that broker because she actually had a lot to do. And back then, I was always using the traditional, run-of-the-mill pictures everyone else used to market property. We had a photographer taking pictures of our listings and everything was okay. But I get a lot more from you guys at H5|Property. Nothing beats the quality of H5. H5 is the first choice for me and a lot of the other agents I know. One of the biggest companies in Norway that is like H5 is working everywhere, all around the entire country and they’ve even started with 360 degree views like you guys. But they don’t have the same quality as H5. The picture quality is not as clear. I think the biggest difference is that with H5 you can zoom in inside the 360s and see every tiny, little detail. So the idea of using H5 was something very, very special to me. The quality is so unique. When I’m out talking to my customers about the solutions that H5 provides, they like it. People like it. And the customers, they just love it. At first I was sceptical of using a professional service, because it does cost a bit more than having them taken by a typical, standard photographer. But at this point, almost 90% of the properties I have sold, I sold using assets created by H5.
What about selling real estate do you like?
I just do. I just really, really like selling real estate. I sell all types of properties. Whatever I get, whatever I can sell. I just love it.
How has the current global crisis affected you as a real estate agent?
When the crisis came and our prime minister announced on TV what was happening, everyone was shocked, everyone was thinking what to do, what’s going to be the next big thing here. And at first I was really worried. How was I supposed to sell real estate if I couldn’t go out and sell real estate? So for the first few days, I did worry a lot about it. But then it turned out I already had a solution: a week or so after the lockdown of Oslo, I sold an apartment without any private showing or any open houses, without anything happening in person. My seller was very, very happy for that. And the reason we were able to sell that property without showing it in person, without any open houses, was because we had good quality pictures from H5|Property and we also had you guys make us 360 degree views so that the customer could virtually look around and see how the apartment looked. That’s what worked. The quality of the assets H5 created gave the buyer the feeling that they were there, in the apartment, looking around. And it gave them enough confidence to buy the unit without having to visit it.
What are some of the strategies you’re using to overcome these challenges?
I have a plan for how I’m going to deal with this crisis as far as selling real estate goes. From this week on, I’m going to have you guys do every apartment for me and I’m going to have a 360 degree view of every single room. That way it will be much easier for my customers to move within the space, from one room to another room, without actually being in the apartment. So I’m doing three new apartments in that way this week. And for these apartments I’m going to have a bit bigger of a photo and 360 package made, so that my customers can stay at home and just buy the apartment without having to go out. Because so far that is what is working.
Thank you for your time today, Ramin. Do you have any closing thoughts as we finish out this interview?
This is a very difficult time for so many people. So I’m just very grateful to be one of the people that can still earn during this crisis. Some people aren’t as lucky. But I’m learning how to keep things going in the market and I’m very happy about that. We will all get through this together as long as we all stay safe.
