The home office of Seemona Fuchs features a convertible desk and large monitor.
A view of Cindy LombardoEmmel’s home office features an executive desk and built-in shelving.
Setting up a productive
Home Office BY MICHELE LERNER
R
ealtors® have a knack for working anywhere: the office at their brokerage, a coffee shop, or even a car. When the pandemic hit and many of those places were off-limits or less desirable, many Realtors® turned their attention to replicating the resources they were accustomed to using at their brokerage office in their home office. For some Realtors®, a home office has been their prime place of business for years, while others were forced to adjust to a new central command for their real estate enterprise. “I have a laptop and a cellphone that I use at home if I have to, but frankly I prefer to work in one of our offices,” said Jeff Montemarano, a broker and Realtor® with Century 21 Preferred Realty in Kinnelon. “Even before the pandemic, though, we’ve been set up so agents can work from home. We’ve been doing virtual floor time so that calls can go to agents who aren’t in the office.” Cindy Lombardo-Emmel, a Realtor® with Coldwell Banker Preferred in Moorestown, has worked from a home office since she started working in real estate in 1997. She designed a more functional office for her home in 2006.
they can build their business and focus on providing stellar customer service.
Must-Have Technology When setting up a home office, the most important thing agents must do is ensure they have reliable internet access, said Montemarano. “We’re a paperless office, so for agents to work at home, all they really need is access to Dotloop and to know how to scan documents from their cellphone,” said Montemarano. “We’ve even written contracts from our phones.” John Swartz, a Realtor® with RE/MAX Community in Williamstown, rarely used his home office before the pandemic, so his first move was to upgrade his internet service and to purchase another monitor for his computer. “A lot of agents relied on the support team from their office for technology, so I think this has taught everyone that they need to learn to use things like Dotloop on their own,” said Swartz.
“I have an executive desk and built-in shelving in the office, and I use it only for real estate,” said Lombardo-Emmel. “I shut the door and leave to eat lunch in the kitchen and even if I want to order something from Amazon, I leave the office.”
Seemona Fuchs, a broker associate and Realtor® with Coldwell Banker in Wycoff, uses her laptop for listing appointments, but she now has a desktop with a large monitor and a combination printer and scanner purchased after the pandemic began.
While Montemarano and Lombardo-Emmel are polar opposites in their appreciation for a home office, many experienced Realtors® have designed home offices where
Lombardo-Emmel recently upgraded her computer with more memory and a bigger monitor with a convenient phone charger.
20 | NEW JERSEY REALTOR® | March/April 2021
