Topic: Home Service

Hear From Our Agents About Virtual Tours!

Currently, we are all dealing with unprecedented circumstances due to the global pandemic, which means we’ve had to adapt.

At the core of our mission, we’ve always valued putting the needs of our clients first–in today’s case that means providing a service that ensures them the highest level of safety.

Throughout the past several months, we’ve channeled the talent and creativity of our veteran team to redesign our industry leading relocation service into a virtual experience. We’ve included all of the feelings of professionalism that our clients typically enjoy during an in person tour, and combined it with the ability to find a home from the comfort and safety of your couch.

Hear from our agents, Jordan Glaser and Katie Cummings, about how they have adapted their personal styles of conducting tours from in person into a virtual setting. See you online soon!

What does a virtual tour with you look like? Can you guide me through the process?

Agent Jordan Glaser:

When we do in person tours, we show 8-12 of the best options on the market based on your criteria. During a virtual tour, I recreate the same process by assembling a list of the best options, aggregating videos, photos, etc, and presenting them with my clients in a Zoom meeting. We review all of the options, making sure to take notes and ranking the listings as we go. This is the same process used on the in person tours, and is very helpful, as seeing this many places in a single day can be overwhelming!

Once we finish the tour, we revisit the top 3 choices, sometimes rewatching the videos, comparing layouts, and confirming which choice is the clients’ favorite. At that point, we secure the apartment by putting down a deposit, applying, and submitting the document package that I put together in advance of the tour. 

Essentially, we are recreating the seamless process that we use in person, in a safer and more convenient way for clients! I am a very big fan of virtual tours and so are all of my clients!

What do you think is your key to making a virtual experience for clients feel similar enough to what they’d get in person?

Agent Katie Cummings:

Details, details, details! Video tours and floorplans are important, but I like to check the little things. Let’s count the outlets. How about a photo of the building’s trash area? Does the super tidy the building’s staircase/entryway? Did we check the street noise with windows both opened and closed? Online reviews of the Wash & Fold on the corner, water pressure, bathroom grout, ceiling height — the list goes on!

What do you think Next Step offers that makes relocation easier in the current circumstances surrounding COVID-19 as opposed to if a person were to not use our service. 

Agent Katie Cummings:

New York City real estate is notoriously hard to navigate. From the pitfalls of fake online listings to sending out highly sensitive personal documents to knowing how to strategize for a great deal, it’s incredibly important to have someone on your side.

It’s also important to differentiate general moving anxiety from genuine concern. Moving is one of the most stressful things you can do, so it’s natural to be anxious about doing it all virtually. But we make sure nerves don’t get in between you and a great apartment.

Intern Perspective: Next Step Realty

 

New York City can be an intimidating environment for anyone looking to find a new home—especially for recent college graduates embarking on their adult lives in the concrete jungle. The market here moves astonishingly fast, and those seeking to move are generally presented with many obstacles along the way. Next Step offers an alternative method that eliminates the chaos often associated with finding a new home.

However, Next Step goes beyond just a pleasant apartment search. I’ve found that what differentiates us from other brokerages in New York City is that we have cultivated a family-like community over the years – built on the foundation of our clients’ trust in our brand and faith in our team. When people see our Giraffe, they know that it comes with a certain standard of reliability, integrity, and excellence. We don’t see ourselves as just your average real estate broker tasked with the transactional opportunity to find your new home, but rather your personal sommelier (or sherpa, if you will) helping guide you into New York City. We aim to bring people together, and help our clients start a life here where they feel comfortable, confident, and most of all companioned. Our purpose is to create an everlasting network of like-minded professionals who will use us as a resource for their entire relocation to New York City – not just the initial search for a new home.

Throughout the years, we’ve put on numerous events for our clients to reinforce and expand our preexisting community. Our annual summer party always proves successful as we commemorate our busiest season through connecting our most recent clients with those who have been a part of the Next Step family for years. The party is something that we’ve all shared traditionally as a coming together in person.

Right now, in the year 2020, after 10 years of never failing to host our annual Welcome to New York City event, we find ourselves valuing and appreciating those memories and connections more than ever. And, we look forward to the time when we can once again welcome everyone in person. Although we’ve had to alter the way we conduct our business in the last few months, our family continues to grow with each successful virtual and in person tour.

I can personally testify that although we are all physically apart from each other right now, the Next Step family ties run deep. The relationships I’ve formed with our team have been continuous since my first summer interning here two years ago. As I’ve grown throughout college, and am nearing my own graduation, I see more clearly that this is a service I would use for myself. Next Step is a company that values lifting up young professionals – not just through the actual services that they provide, but also by the way they treat the youngest members of their team, like myself.

If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed and lost in the process of finding a new home during these unnerving circumstances, look no further. From the first phone call to the welcome home basket, we’ll be with you every step of the way. If you want to learn more about our virtual tour process or read up on our safety protocols for those seeking in-person assistance, check out this page today.

We look forward to welcoming you to the Next Step family!

Stay tuned for our next blog post about our virtual tour process and what our agents are saying!