How to reinvent the real estate business in times of crisis
The journalist Anna Solana publishes an article about Monapart in La Vanguardia, in its digital format. The news talks about how Monapart is reinventing the property business in times of crisis.
La Vanguardia | 02.03.2012 | Anna Solana
Houses with scents. Suitcases with stories. Things. People. Places. Experiences. On the Monapart website, the word does not appear real estate nowhere to be found. It is not that they reject what it means. Monapart rents, sells and renovates “authentic” homes, with a series of attributes that make them special, at affordable prices.
However, the founders of this young Barcelona-based company, born right in the middle of the crisis, are clear that the sector must “modernise, invest in the technical and ethical training of its workers and establish emotional bonds with customers and its physical sphere of operation”. Because “this is a people business”, they say.
For that very reason they are not considered intermediaries, but “companions”. “Because the sale or rent ”of a site that has been cherished requires sensitivity, empathy, honesty and rigor", they insist. Something that is not incompatible with seeking an organised model of commercial processes, advanced in the use of sales strategies and portfolio management, and intensive in the use of ICT.
With this same perspective, Monapart has developed a community of fans, which it calls Monaparters, en Facebook, Twitter and above all Foursquare, where he has 4,500 followers. “The community for realists who ask for the impossible,” reads its motto.
“The Monaparters are a fundamental part of the project. Through our website and social media profiles, we share content with them that is in keeping with the lifestyle we propose, and they do the same with us. These users can be future customers and, if this happens, we have to live up to the excellence we claim in our way of working, emphasises José Luis Echeverría, founding partner of the company, along with Eduard Solé and Olga Sala.
This same philosophy has enabled them to grow by 250% over the last 18 months and expand their team from three to seven people. This is by no means a negligible figure at a time when, in addition to the economic crisis, the sector is suffering from an “identity and values crisis”, they say. This figure has encouraged them to develop their next project: Monapart Living, an online shop selling homeware designed for the discerning consumer, which is set to launch this summer and will operate across Europe.
You can read the original news story here. And if you want a free, no-obligation valuation of your property, backed by evidence and without raising false expectations, request it for free here.
