The estate agent

I own an estate agency with my business partner. We have five offices and just under 30 staff. It was difficult to get every one working from home because they needed computers and phones set up at home, but we managed it within two days. 

Obviously it’s almost impossible to sell houses at the moment. We’re doing Whatsapp viewings and we’re on the phones, and that works to a degree, but of course people want to visit homes in person.

We’ve furloughed about half of our staff. If the lockdown continues we will have to furlough more. We still have rent, rates and utilities to pay. We expected a month of no business, but if this goes to two months or more of lockdown it will be very tough. There are a lot of estate agents that will go out of business if lockdown continues, and some already have. So many have furloughed their entire staff and they are at a standstill. Mind you, if lockdown continues the economy will be in such a bad way the house market will be completely changed.

Most of our staff have been with us a long time, and they understood we had to furlough them. Basically, it was last in, first to be furloughed.

Lockdown has made us reassess how we work. Do we need five branches, and all the office space we have? Could people work from home more? Some people really enjoy being in the office and need that focus and to be managed, but some are thriving at home. I think we can save our costs in the future.

Personally I find the lockdown difficult. My wife and I are separated and we have to move the children between the two of us, but for the first few days there wasn’t any guidance about that. I also have to work from home and supervise home schooling - I’m managing, but it is ‘interesting’! There have been a few days when I’ve felt like a caged animal and I don’t like it.

I hope that soon we can get back to normality. We all want to get back to work, and get people moving.