Top real estate coach and auctioneer Tom Panos says sales agents who get vaccinated will have a big advantage over those who don’t. Picture: John Appleyard
Big players in real estate are getting behind the international Covid vaccination push, with some forecasting homeowners may refuse entry to agents who haven’t had the jab.
With the increasingly alarming numbers of Covid cases in the community and deaths, the future is looking bleak for agents who ignore the health advice.
“There will be some vendors who will say ‘I don’t want you in my home; I don’t want you around me if you’re not vaccinated’,” said Tim McKibbin, the chief executive of the NSW Real Estate Institute.
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Top real estate coach and auctioneer Tom Panos warns agents who are double vaccinated will have a distinct advantage in the marketplace when it comes to listing properties.
“We will see it happening in the next week, real estate agents will be saying in correspondence ‘we are vaccinated’.
“When an agent comes to your door, you have security.”
Real Estate Institute of NSW CEO Tim McKibbin predicts homeowners will refuse to deal with unvaccinated agents.
In his weekly Monday Facebook rant, Panos was already suggesting agents who have their listing appointments with vendors outside may have an advantage.
“Don’t have the business talk in the dining room, say ‘can we sit outside where there is ventilation and reduced chance of transmission’ — this is what the smart people are doing.”
In the US, big firms such as Microsoft, won’t even allow employees or guests inside company buildings without evidence of vaccination from next month, Forbes reports.
Facebook, Google, Adobe, MGM Resorts, the Washington Post all have similar positions and a big meat processing firm, Tyson Foods, will require its employees to be vaccinated.
Banks Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo are asking employees to report their vaccination status, while Morgan Stanley says workers who want to return to work in its New York offices need to get vaccinated.
Luxe Listings Sydney star D’Leanne Lewis says: “We should all be doing it, without question.”
McKibbin says he can’t force institute members to be vaccinated but in his daily webinars with president Leanne Pilkington: “I repeatedly say that people should get vaccinated … being able to continue operation as a business in these times is a privilege not a right and we need to protect that privilege.”
Big real estate firms are still formulating their policies. The Agency’s group CEO Geoff Lucas says: “We haven’t put out a formal recommendation as yet.”
He added: “It’s a very sensitive one: it’s important that we respect individual’s choices however as it becomes clearer as to how the government chooses to legislate that may influence the way we need to act to bring the economy open as soon as possible.”
Lucas added that he personally recommended getting vaccinated. “I’ve been jabbed — what’s the alternative?
“The alternative is to continue lockdown — to lift the lockdown would kill the health system and kill hundreds of thousands so the only answer is a form of vaccination.”
The Agency’s group CEO Geoff Lucas says: “To lift the lockdown would kill the health system and kill hundreds of thousands so the only answer is a form of vaccination.”
The Laing and Simmons Double Bay principal and Luxe Listings Sydney star D’Leanne Lewis couldn’t agree more.
“I’m getting my second vaccination next week and we get Covid tested every two days for the show,” says Lewis who is currently shooting Luxe Listings second series.
“Safety is key and if we’re coming and going from people’s houses and dealing with the public it’s important that we are safe and they are safe.
“We should all be doing it, without question.”
BresicWhitney principal Shannan Whitney agreed, saying: “We have to put ourselves in the safest position, for yourself and the participants.”
BresicWhitney CEO Shannan Whitney
He said the company was yet to formulate an official position on vaccination for its agents.
“We’re certainly having discussions around what we think we’ll do,” he said.
“It’s an important topic and we’re not putting it to the side, we’re debating what we’re going to do as a priority.”
LJ Hooker is also behind the vaccination push, providing employees time off to go and get vaccinated. “As a corporate citizen, the LJ Hooker Group encourages its people to get vaccinated,” a spokesperson said.
“Being part of the fabric of community, our offices across Australia and New Zealand have a role to play in the protection of their teams and consumers.”
“We look forward to a post-Covid world and, until then, we support vaccination and other Covid safe practices, like social distancing and personal protection measures, in all our real estate operations.”
The post Real estate agents who refuse Covid vaccination may face bleak future appeared first on realestate.com.au.
Big players in real estate are getting behind the international Covid vaccination push, with some forecasting homeowners may refuse entry to agents who haven’t had the jab.
The post Real estate agents who refuse Covid vaccination may face bleak future appeared first on realestate.com.au.
