The problems of a real estate office
The McCord Real Estate Team
My mother and father are very successful realtors in Dallas, Texas. My mom got her license first in 1997 and began working in a real estate office. She quickly abandoned that office in favor of a home office because of office noise. There were a number of issues at hand:
- Distraction- too much office noise was distracting while she tried to work or make calls
- Overheard Personal Information- she didn’t want other agents or passers-by to overhear her personal information as she made calls
- Competing agents- there were times that the agent on the other side of a deal she was negotiating was present in the office. The last thing she wanted was for that agent to hear her confirming a seller’s bottom price or a buyer’s top price
- Lack of professionalism- similar to distraction, ambient office noise in the background does not sound personal and professional to a client on the other end of a call or in a meeting at the office
So, for the above reasons, my mom left the office and set up her own home office. Fortunately, she has the discipline to treat her home office as an office and still be professional. However, this is not the case for many, nor is working from home even a possibility for most.
Sound Masking for Realtors
A better solution for most would be the addition of a sound masking system within the office building itself. Many systems are installed directly in the ceiling tiles themselves and the speakers emit white noise. This low-level background noise covers distracting sounds and also provides privacy and confidentiality for all parties involved.
The result is that real estate agents can work productively in their offices, and their clients can get the best representation possible. That’s an investment worth making.