(Pictured left to right, Drew Ranich, Director of Relocation & Broker Relations, Reece McColly-Fleener, Title Officer with Community Title, Heather McColly, Director of Career Development & McColly New Homes Division, and pictured sitting, Ron McColly, President.)
The use of dynamic technologies to benefit both its customers and Realtors has always been the mantra at McColly Real Estate. Now, during the economic disruption of COVID-19, it allows McColly Companies to safely do business while respecting the social distance requirements of the CDC.
While McColly offices remain open for essential business needs, they are also encouraging agents to telework to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Agents are creating virtual tours, open houses and showings, as well as video conferencing with clients.
“We rolled out the new McColly Connect platform last fall with resources that have a huge impact on our agent’s real estate business, ultimately driving what matters most to us—providing the best customer service,” says Ron McColly, founder of McColly Real Estate, the largest independent residential real estate company in Northwest Indiana, Chicago Southland, and Central Illinois. Founded in 1974, McColly has expanded from a four-person brokerage to include Community Title, McColly Bennett Commercial Advantage, the McColly New Homes Division, and the McColly School of Real Estate. McColly Real Estate is anexclusive member of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World®, a prestigious global network that includes Luxury Portfolio International®.
One of McColly Companies’ core services, Community Title, continues to have safe and secure closings during these challenging times. Kathy Shultz, office manager, had this to say, “Being a service-based company, we are supporting the wellness of our employees and our customers by asking clients before they come to a closing, how they would like us to conduct the closing. We are conducting many curbside closings, and yet, there are still closings where we separate the buyers and sellers in different rooms. We really want to make everyone comfortable in this time of uncertainty.”
McColly agents have quick and easy access to all company-provided technology including their agent website, agent-branded property search app, transaction management software, CRM, eMarketing platform and more through McColly Connect. Think of McColly Connect as a hub where all the information from these various platforms flows into one place—a back-end web-based system—which can then be accessed remotely with a single login. This allows McColly agents to do business from any location with an internet connection from their laptop, iPad / tablet, smart phone or desktop.
Besides technological expertise, the knowledge of their communities, schools and markets, are among the core strengths of McColly Real Estate.
Indeed, this new streamlined approach eliminates unnecessary manual busy work, meaning those using McColly Connect can focus more on what matters most—giving their clients the best knowledge-based service and the type of personal attention that has led to McColly being selected Best of the Region by The Times of Northwest Indiana readers for five years in a row.
“mccolly.com and its agent websites also offer a Home Valuation that virtually pairs sellers and buyers who come to our website,” says Decker. “This widget is another tool created for the mccolly.com website that lets a seller find out the value of their home. Based on an algorithm in our website, potential sellers not only find out an estimate of what their home is worth, they also see a heat map of where live buyers are looking to purchase in their vicinity.”
“In addition, McColly Connect allows us to communicate internally amongst 470+ agents to relay properties in need or coming to market; and to access anything agents need from links to training videos to electronic sign request forms,” says Decker, noting that by easily accessing all the platforms through one portal, agents now have everything they need.
“For more than 45 years, Ron McColly has privately been a local philanthropist,” says Monica Decker, noting that McColly Charities is an important part of the organization.
For their most recent charity cause, McColly Charities held a Shelter Buddies collection drive from March 1st to 25th. They collected pet food, toys, treats and household cleaning supplies via the 23 local office locations that were donation stations. “The community support was overwhelming! When we started our Shelter Buddies Drive over a month ago, we had no idea how much the world would change. Little did we know, how much more the local animal shelters would need supplies. As always, our community went above and beyond in their donations. It makes your heart swell!” said Decker.
“Realtors by nature and by industry are traditionally known as the helpers. We welcome the public to lean on us if they have questions to make smart decisions.’ Decker added.
Our family of agents, employees and clients have weathered many challenges and opportunities since we began in 1974. And, we will continue to stay on top of this challenge as it evolves, and emerge with the community stronger, when it is finished.
