Interesting discussion going on today on the social networking sites about “virtual offices”. I have run a virtual office for years, finding that being in the office doesn’t mean I’m in my business. Lots of distractions and lines at the copy machine made it inefficient for me to get anything done.
I can accomplish more for my clients by being virtual than by having a physical office. The time it takes just to get to the office, set up materials and deal with office details is time that I could be dealing with 2-3 items and getting them cleared up! Reports, offers, paper things – oh those paper things! With Internet faxing we don’t need fax machines anymore. With email we hardly need faxes anymore. With file sharing we hardly need email anymore….
The amount of work that I and my team can accomplish in a day just by being virtual is virtually impressive!
Oh, and my assistants – they are virtual, too.
Transactions can now be processed so quickly that by the time a client has gotten back into their car to catch a plane, their offer has already been submitted and {hopefully} signed and accepted by the seller without us having left the computer. With the use of Docusign and on-line client file platforms, the process has been streamlined.
Oh, and I’m thinking that the earnest money part can’t be virtual…but actually it can be with a wire transfer…
There are so many aspects to business, and not only the real estate business, that can be virtual that perhaps the day of the physical office is going to be a thing of the past.
Linda – thanks for mentioning DocuSign in this post about being virtual! There’s something to be said for a clean, easy, trusted process. 🙂
I hope your clients appreciate it!
I work virtually as well. In my case I working in a coworking location for a company in California (I’m in Kentucky). I find it to be very productive. Most of the people I work with I haven’t met, but we still manage to get a lot done together.
I don’t think I could go back to the old way (driving to a building with 1000 people in it, all working for the same company).