EDMONTON THE ALBERTA RESILIENCE WILL PREVAIL

Rohit Gupta President Rohit Group of Companies

As real estate businesses navigate the strange new world of COVID-19, some will struggle while others will thrive. At Rohit Group of Companies we are trying to be pragmatic by identifying what works and what doesn’t. What’s going well in the business? Where are we collecting rent? Where are we getting sales? Where is cash coming in? And what are the areas that are struggling? Everybody in Alberta is dealing with not only COVID-19, but also a slump in the oil and gas industry. We’ve engaged in a philosophical discussion about this both internally and with our partners, and that discussion goes something like this: We’ll all take some beatings along the way, but what is an acceptable beating to take? Once we decide that, we can talk about how we manage it. Finally, if there’s an impulse to make a decision immediately, we try to take two weeks or even 30 days and buy ourselves time to think.

In our business, the greatest impact from the pandemic has been on new home sales. We’ve seen big changes in how customers interact with us, how they go through the home buying process, how we reach them with a message about what our product is, and their confidence level in their own employment opportunities going forward.

Doing business in a pandemic requires new marketing techniques. Like many of you, we have introduced virtual tours, and created a marketing spend that moves away from drive-by traffic and focuses on digital media. We have changed our messaging to be relevant to a COVID environment. So instead of showing gatherings in our advertising, we’re showing messaging that’s more relevant to COVID-related challenges — messaging that might show a backyard, or someone working in a den or other private space in the house, away from the family so they can conduct their meetings. www.realestateforums.com Like so many organizations worldwide, as a homebuilder, Rohit Group of Companies has had to accelerate its ability to do online transactions. COVID-19 has accelerated the pace of change, from people coming into show homes to do a transaction to people doing transactions online from their houses or bedroom or sofa. At this point, many in this industry are wondering how the different asset classes will fare as the pandemic situation progresses. In my view, from a residential perspective, COVID-19 will impact the whole economy financially and reduce the purchasing power of many new home buyers. There should therefore be a push towards residential rental product into the future, at least for the next 24 months. From a commercial retail perspective, success will vary from one business to another. Concepts that were poor or waning, businesses that were in poor locations, or landlords that hadn’t invested into their assets long term for the benefit of the tenants or end consumer, will probably struggle going into the future. On the other hand, landlords that have done a good job of investing in their tenants and consumer experience will probably tend to ride this out much better.

On a personal note...

I have to let out my creative juices, so I’m doing a lot of cooking with new recipes. Some have been horrible –like, really bad while others turned out pretty good. I also take daily walks.

I haven’t had this much time to myself during the day, where nobody’s watching me, since university. In fact I was interviewed for this article while exploring the woods in Edmonton. I’m exploring the city from a very different perspective, which I haven’t been able to do for 20 years. So I’m taking advantage of it. Let’s not talk negative about COVID, and let’s not talk positive. Let’s just have fun. If we look at other businesses and how to help them adapt, eventually their success will be our success.