Login
iscover
The team at independent agency Marshall.Chan.Yahl has no plans to say sayonara to their shopfront window.
“I get people texting me saying they saw my face,” Marshall.Chan.Yahl director William Chan told Real Estate Business. “I get lots of text message from locals who walk past, the locals see it.”
The need for a real estate shop window to showcase an agency’s listings was brought into question by UrbanX boss Dan Argent.
“I literally can’t remember the last time I had a client in our office,” Mr Argent said.
Mr Argent believes computers and smartphones are the new shop window, making window displays irrelevant.
The directors at Marshall.Chan.Yahl believe there is no logic to not having a pedestrian-busy window full of listings.
“There is only one reason they do it, and it’s the most stupid thing,” director Craig Marshall said. “To save money, to save rent. There is no logic otherwise.”
Mr Marshall believes a real estate office needs to be friendly; it needs to feel homely because agents are selling people’s homes.
“Going upstairs or in an office up a lift into a cold environment, it’s not real estate,” he said. “Real Estate is friendly, and the idea of this is bringing friendly into the public eye.”
The agency also has an office in the St Ives shopping centre, and people regularly stop in to ask questions, director James Yahl said.
“That is what we are there for,” Mr Yahl said.
“We’ve seen these circle services come into the industry without having a base, and they have left the industry. There is no personal connection with the client.
“You don’t hide as a real estate agent, you’ve got to be out there.”
In the first couple of month since Marshall.Chan.Yahl opened its doors in Sydney’s north, it has had many people stop in to say hello.
“They won’t do that in an office building,” Mr Marshall said.
“So, don’t be a secret agent.”
Newsletter
