Management for Real Estate

We have met with Matthew Navarro to give us insight about what it means to manage a team of specialists. He tells us what makes a good and rewarding real estate managerial role. 

 

Question: What is the most important factor in your managing role ?

 

The team is the most important factor in my daily working life. It’s such a satisfaction to see specialists succeed and progress. The most intimate part of our relationship is the closing of a deal. Specialists call to let me know when clients are highly interested in a property and would like to make an offer, it is then up to me to take over and speak to the owner and clients. There’s a lot of excitement. Both in terms of the client-owner direction, but also in the specialist-manager direction. Working closely with them has allowed us to form a bond. What’s exciting about the closing part, is that we make both ends see eye-to-eye despite the financial or technical difficulties. 

 

The training stages are also a great way to form this solid relationship we have. Konrad (Branch co-owner) and myself have trained people coming from different sectors, such as hospitality and services. Some of these people have become our best performing specialists. So we truly welcome anyone from any working industry to make a leap and try out real estate as a career choice; we’ll certainly deliver the required training and assistance. In my own experience, I’ve got Konrad and Steve to thank. Mainly for believing in me, at an early stage of my career and at such an young age. I’ve been given the space to grow as sales manager and up to now, thanks to hard work and dedication, these decisions have proved to be fruitful. 

 

Question: What are the prevailing tendencies you observe in the market? 

 

Nowadays, many owners are not negotiable. They tend to give us a price and make that price final. This can be slightly problematic as buyers will always want to brush-off a portion of the price, even if the price tag is fair according to the property and the area. When it comes to clients, everyone has an ideal property in mind, but when we start-off with property searches one quickly becomes more realistic in terms of prices and property features. Finding compromise is deeply rooted in the real estate business, as positive elements outshine negative elements according to people’s tastes and needs. 

 

First time buyers will predominantly search for apartments and penthouses. This section of society will have a budget ranging between 150,000 euros to 200,000 euros, with the majority of searches falling within central-north malta. 

 

Buying on-plan properties is also quite widespread, as young couples can save some money in the meantime for furniture and other personal touches. There is the idea of "picking and choosing” attached to it, invoking a sense of liberty and purchase-power within a competitive market. There’s a great deal of importance given to the open plan living/dining area, as weak as a desire for outside space and/or terraces. I know this well since I am a first time buyer myself, and i wanted to have ample living and entertaining space.

 

Question: Do you fell you have any input into the market yourself? 

 

Absolutely. Working closely with developers and putting in some suggestions has sometimes proved favorable to the consumer. We sometimes even get involved in the planning stages and contribute hugely to the property plans and design. It makes sense, as we then can propose properties to potential buyers with the confidence. We’re selling different types of properties daily and therefore have attained the knowledge of the current requests and clients needs. It is then only natural that we also delve in the planning process to reflect those tendencies in future properties.