Snow and ice didn’t freeze up all real estate activity

All across the Charlotte region, as snow fell and ice formed this week, real estate agents were still working, although many of them were at home.

Sandy Kindbom, a Realtor with Charlotte-based Allen Tate Realty, said most agents have home offices that allow them to be as productive on snow days as they are on sunny days.

But the wintry weather didn’t keep agents indoors all the time.

Kindbom and her assistant made it to the office Monday, when as much as 6 inches of snow fell on Charlotte, and another agent showed a rental unit Tuesday, when much of the region was covered in a layer of ice.

Kindbom said those that didn’t brave the weather stayed busy organizing and updating databases and contact lists.

“I don’t think we missed a beat in our office,” she said. “They all worked through the snow holiday.”

Irv Schwebel, a real estate agent with Prudential Carolinas Realty in Charlotte, used the time to call old clients. He said staying in touch with past clients is a “ritual” for his office, which does fundraisers and client outings at baseball and hockey games to show appreciation.

“I went through the last 12 years of clients,” he said. “You have to go through and work at it, but that’s why we are still here and others aren’t.”

Kindbom agreed that it was an ideal time to reach out to past clients.

“Everybody is at home. It makes for a little bit of captive audience,” she said.

And while Schwebel was networking on LinkedIn and Facebook and by e-mail, an agent from another real estate company was showing one of his listings to a potential buyer Monday.

“There was 5 inches of snow and someone was looking at a property,” he said. “That’s what you call a very serious buyer.”

Schwebel said he had to postpone showing some properties this week, but he did not have any closings or inspections scheduled.

Kindbom said most of the closings in her office were scheduled for later in the month and were not impacted by the weather.

Although working at home sounds great to most people, Schwebel said he was ready to get back to his office today.

The joke in his family is that if he worked from home, he would never shave, gain 50 pounds and watch Oprah Winfrey’s show regularly.

“I spent most of my free time going from the laptop to the refrigerator,” he joked. “After getting through the first four shelves, I knew it was time to get back to office. It was absolutely making me crazy. I’m very much a workaholic.”

Tara Ramsey can be reached at [email protected].