Intro
At Floorfy, we are proud to announce that we have arrived at an agreement to collaborate with the Forcadell group. Today, we talk to Marta Vilana, who is currently the Director of its Residential department. Marta has had a long career in real estate, so she is well placed to share her wisdom with us today. Indeed, in today’s interview, we talk to her about her own experience in the sector, and her thoughts on what’s in store for the years to come.
Hi Marta. To begin with, how did you find yourself in the real estate sector?
Hello, I started in the sector a bit by chance. I moved ten years ago, and in the process of looking for a new flat I become interested in the sector. I had a lot of experience managing sales teams and I thought that I could make a contribution. So I trained and after a few years I opened my own real estate agency.
Principally, what does your job consist of?
I supervise the team dedicated to the residential field of Forcadell, which is spread out over 7 offices. Basically, we design the work processes that are in constant evolution and provide the team with the necessary tools to help us achieve our objectives.
About Forcadell Real Estate
Although the father of the company’s founder was already in the business, this real estate agency was not created until 1958. From this moment on, they started to work on providing property management and sales services, both for their own developments and those of third parties.
The services of this Catalan firm have been growing and modernizing in parallel with the progress of society. In fact, a closer look at its history shows that one of its great strengths has been precisely its ability to react quickly to new demands, with services such as property management, the search for business premises or consultancy for third parties.
In the present day it is a modern business which has not only survived the deep crisis of the past decade, but has also emerged stronger as a key player in real estate transactions throughout Spain and abroad. Its catalogue of services is oriented towards comprehensive property management and consultancy: they help companies and individuals rent and sell, manage horizontal property and real estate portfolios, provide consultancy and legal advice, have their own technical office, and even sell insurance policies.
So, Marta, what do you like most about working for Forcadell?
In Forcadell, I have found a company that coincides with my personal values of ethics and taking work seriously. In addition, I have always found the support and trust from the management to allow me the autonomy to develop this project.
A real estate digitalization agreement that will improve its customer services
Through its digitalization agreement with Floorfy, this Catalan business has demonstrated once again its forward-thinking vision. By offering virtual visits to its clients, they have the option to create a unique and distinctive buying and renting experience, with regards to the competition. At the same time, showing properties remotely in an accurate and realistic way will meet the wishes of its customers, increasing their interest and loyalty.
In the current situation, where people are trying to minimalize in person appointments, a virtual tour represents a huge leap in the experience of searching for a property. It allows visitors to get a very precise idea of what the property they are interested in is like, and to narrow down the options as much as possible before seeing it first-hand. In addition, it will show you to be transparent and trustworthy, which will improve the conversion rate.
Tell us a little bit about your decision to digitalize your real estate assets with Floorfy. How was our technology implemented, how and does a business as large as Forcadell adapt to the changes?
Floorfy’s tool is very easy for the teams to use. They take the images themselves with the 360 camera and upload them to the app, in very little time we have a virtual tour ready to upload to the portals, send to clients and to carry out virtual visits when a physical visit is not possible. It also allows us to filter down various properties with clients before making a physical visit, which is more time consuming for all parties and therefore improves the productivity of the team, whilst providing a better service to our clients.
The real estate sector opts for digitalisation
And this alliance is a further sign of the direction in which the sector is moving. The technology has enabled many owners to manage their operations independently, but it also offers endless possibilities for professionals. Listening to what customers need, and knowing how to apply it to business, is what will allow them to benefit from all it has to offer.
Virtual tours, the digitalisation of services and other possible functions in this field are very powerful tools with which it is possible to improve and professionalize its services. In order to choose the most successful ones, you only have to listen to the market and pay attention to how it evolves. Although these will change depending on the brand of each real estate agency, remote procedures are a macro-trend that can all be applied in multiple ways.
And with regards to the pandemic, in a real estate agency which is as well-established as Forcadell, how have you adapted to the new way of working?
We have been working on the digitalisation of some operations for some time and, like for everyone else, the pandemic has accelerated everything. We make sure that we can carry out virtual visits of the entire portfolio, with the tours that we carry out with your software. The virtual tours, together with the digital signature of documents, were what allowed us to remain active during the confinement.
And, Marta, how do you expect the property market in general to evolve in Spain?
The second-hand residential market has weathered the pandemic reasonably well, we are not yet at pre-confidence transaction volumes but demand is recovering rapidly in part due to good mortgage conditions and the opportunities that are appearing in the sector. We are optimistic.
In the case of Forcadell, its commitment has come in the form of a commercial alliance with Floorfy, thanks to which they can offer tours from the comfort of their customer’s homes. This allows them to see the properties without having to travel. Bearing in mind the social distancing and current restrictions, we can conclude that it is a very safe bet.
