Second wave of Coronavirus has hit the nation and businesses have taken a toll again. To have an insight about how the second wave of Covid has impacted real estate, we have conducted a short interview with Cyriac Joseph, Chief Sales and Marketing officer at Ozone Group.
Cyriac has over 25 years of Sale and Marketing experience in the Realty sector. He has been featured for 2 years running in the “MOST INFLUENTIAL MARKETING LEADERS” listing at the World Marketing Congress at Mumbai and was invited to become a Member of the RICS (MRICS -The world’s leading Chartered Qualification for professionals in the real estate and construction sector). He was adjudged as “Marketer of the Year” at the 9th Realty Plus Conclave & Excellence Awards 2017.
His work Philosophy is – ‘BACK TO BASICS and KEEPING IT SIMPLE’. It’s about making every opportunity count and doing the fundamentals right every single time, And then doing it all over again!
Here is the excerpt from the interview :
1. How do you think the second wave of Covid-19 has impacted the real estate market?
The real estate market is much better prepared this time around. We may expect a very short term impact as both buyers and sellers try to assess the situation. However, the learnings from the lockdown in 2020 will stand us in good stead especially from a developer perspective as we had invested in the digital selling process to ensure a seamless customer buying experience.
2. How are the builders going to keep the momentum of Sales during this period?
During such times, it is natural for potential buyers to be anxious about a possible impact that the pandemic would have on the economy at large apart from their own job situation. We need to do our best to insulate the buyer from such anxiety – primarily by way of flexible and limited period entry options and ease of exit in case of any eventuality. That said, we at Ozone will provide a seamless customer buying experience with extensive use of virtual tours which aims at providing as real an experience as possible, ease of booking through online booking platforms etc.
3. How different are the effects of the second wave of Covid-19 than the first?
While the second wave seems to have taken all of us by surprise – which it shouldn’t have! – we expect the impact to be relatively marginal vis-a-vis the first wave. Having been through a lengthy and enforced lockdown scenario the last time around, we are just that much better prepared to tackle the second wave from a business and selling perspective.
4. How are you placing yourself on a personal and mental level amid the Pandemic?
Staying strong and motivated and making sure my team is as well!
5. Do you want to communicate any message to the readers?
Stay safe, stay healthy!
That said, the market has never been this positive and buoyant in a long time. I think this is as good a time as any for buyers to make that all important decision of a home purchase. With home loan interest rates at an all-time low and a plethora of options to choose from at highly competitive rates, I would advise buyers not to put off their buying decision
