A sector hard-hit by the COVID-19 crisis, real estate brokerage was not designated as an essential service at the start of the pandemic.
Renato Dall’Ava, one of more than 30 brokers working with Groupe Mackay, an agency founded in 1997 in Lachine, Quebec, says he is making the most of the circumstances.
“We will soon be able to resume our normal operations. For now, we have the OK to take buyers on visits if we follow a certain protocol. We can also post properties online virtually..,” says Dall’Ava, who also serves as development director of the group.
Glitches and patches in Zoom
For new residential listings, Renato Dall’Ava favours video visits, which he provides on the Centris platform. He uses the videoconference platform Zoom notably to fulfil his obligation of seeing the client. “Thanks to Zoom, we can also share documents. We can support the clients on that medium: some are making purchase offers.” He does not use email and prefers the phone as a safer medium.
However, Zoom has its limits. The company has been in hot water since the start of the crisis.
“I would not recommend Zoom for now, given the recent issues and breaches of confidentiality,” says François Levasseur, Senior Vice-president Canada at Equisoft. He recommends that advisors meet clients via other software like Microsoft Teams, Skype, Google Duo, Facetime or GoToMeeting.
Zoom has indeed corrected certain vulnerabilities, Dominic Villeneuve, security and infrastructures director at UV Insurance, adds. “There were versions of Zoom that did not come from official sites, and that let hackers take control of the WebCam and intercept conferences,” he explains.
Aside from the tools that Levasseur mentioned, Villeneuve also vouches for Cisco Webex. He adds that UV Insurance stopped using Zoom, and thinks advisors should do the same.
