Upping the ante, ensuring relevance

Knowledge is power.

In a highly dynamic, competitive and evolving industry such as real estate, it pays to be always in the know. With market preferences constantly changing and lifestyles shifting, it is a must for property leaders to be always one step ahead of the game to ensure that the market’s needs and whims are satisfied.

Over the years, we have seen industry players and leaders breaking barriers and going beyond norms to ensure that they sustain the market’s confidence.

Still, industry leaders must continue to be on the lookout for the latest trends and innovations that would allow them to better keep up with the demands of the market. Take for instance the COVID-19 pandemic. If there’s anything good that has come out of it, it’s the fact that it compelled many property developers to find more innovative ways to create better projects suitable in a postpandemic era.

But how are developers doing it? How do they ensure they have enough knowledge of the current situation and come up with possible solutions and innovations? We talked to some of the country’s leading developers and asked them how they’re helping their market adapt to the postpandemic era through the kind of projects they build, and how they keep themselves updated with the latest trends in real estate. In the following pages, you would find these developers spilling their secrets on how they managed to remain on top of their game amid the disruptions thrown our way by the pandemic.

Conviction, generosity and continuous learning

Jose Soberano III

Chairman, president and CEO

Cebu Landmasters Inc.

For CLI, we are doing this with a lot of conviction and generosity–the conviction to adapt, pivot and reimagine our designs to fulfil the needs of this new market, and to put more focus on health, safety and wellness as a key need; as well as the generosity to provide more to our buyers in terms of value and our efforts. This new normal more than ever shows to us the importance of quality homes. Hence, we exert more effort to deliver our projects better and faster, so that quality homeownership reaches more households as soon as possible. It also requires a highly effective property management arm, and we are able to support our various homeowners 24/7 through CLI Property Management.

Founders like myself need to always have a discerning and yet very open mind. Today’s younger generation are very savvy, connected, and global. So I have my children and younger generation employees to keep me up to date, and their ideas are very valuable to me to promote innovation and constant learning in our company.

Secondly, we can never be too old to learn. I took an Advanced Management Development Program in Real Estate at Harvard University at the age of 59. I read a lot, have constant dialogue with our buyers, brokers, and employees in the field where I gain insights from. I also join several Zoom webinars and learn from my co-panelists and leaders in the industry. I always look forward to hearing their best practices and knowledge to enhance mine.

Integrating expertise, adopting best practices

Thomas F. Mirasol

President and chief operating officer

Federal Land Inc.

Every Federal Land project is based on township integration, connectivity and transit orientation. We want to make sure that everything the customer needs is right at their doorstep or (would be) easy to access–either within each property itself, or nearby.

With the rise of work-from-home arrangements, space is more important than ever. Our properties have flexible unit layouts which can be adapted to customers’ needs. Our amenities such as open spaces, health and wellness facilities and other features meet the needs of our residents. We are also mindful of our communities’ health. Their safety is our priority. Our property management arm ensures that health and safety measures are always in place for the safety of our customers and our front-liner team.

We keep ourselves updated with current events, real estate research and forecasts from experts. We also regularly check in with our international partners to integrate their unique expertise and best practices with our local market knowledge to create properties that elevate the living experience of our clientele. But our best ideas come from our customers–they tell us what they need. We listen and we build-in this feedback into our projects. This feedback cycle, along with informal surveys we conduct, allow us to evolve and be relevant to the changing market situation.

Collective efforts toward business continuity

Jay Teodoro

Chief operating officer

Fort Bonifacio Development Corp.

Extended al fresco dining in Bonifacio High Street

The COVID-19 crisis has created a heightened demand for outdoor spaces and parks. This will most likely still be the preference, even after the pandemic has come to pass. The outdoor orientation of our retail developments in BGC, particularly Bonifacio High Street, has been one of the strongest drivers for people to continue to visit and patronize our malls, seeing that consumers are more confident to shop and dine in open air spaces. For this reason, BGC has also become the preferred site of both local and global retail concepts for their flagship stores, as streetside or parkside establishments thrive.

The pandemic has undoubtedly thrown unforeseen and challenging disruptions on a massive scale. There is no literature or textbook that could have prepared us to deal with this.

Through the shared tenacity and creativity of our team, and the support of our partners, we are revealing resilience in ways that we never have before. We are discovering anew through this crisis and adapting to change and new realities, constantly observing what is happening on the ground. We also keep an open line with our merchants, locators, and our customers to understand their needs and work on quick-wins by addressing their pain points, as best as we can. We are learning new tools and skills to accelerate the company’s digital transformation, and in turn, stay productive and collectively work toward business continuity.

A never ending learning, creativity, and innovation cycle

Aniceto “Jun” V. Bisnar Jr.

Chief operating officer and senior vice president

Ortigas Land

Ortigas Land ensures that its estates have useful lush green spaces that everyone can enjoy.

We make sure that we recognize the needs of the market. Nowadays, everyone appreciates the value of proper planning of space and estates to be able to carry out their daily activities. Our residential units are large enough to be able to have your own working space.

In our estates, we ensure that there are useful lush green spaces that everyone can enjoy. There is also a need for internet connectivity and we have partnered with Globe for that, providing our future residents with free two years of unlimited internet in our new developments. Our estates are also being planned to have fiber optic lines in coordination with telecom companies.

Bisnar believes that real estate development is a continuous learning and innovation process.

When we plan for our projects, we are mindful of the lifestyle and basic needs of our market. We have what we call “mindful designs” or features that would make living in our residential projects easier. For our malls, we have introduced “My Home Dasher,” our personal shopper service. In our offices, we are placing designs and systems that are adaptive to the new normal to ensure the health and safety of building occupants. We are continuously innovating to improve the quality and delivery of our products and services to our customers, as well as to incorporate environmental, economic, and social sustainability in our estates. We are constantly reviewing our masterplans to ensure that we can adapt to the challenges facing us today and in the future.

Real estate development is a continuous learning and innovation process. We strive to improve through the identification of the needs of our market and finding gaps which we can change for a better customer experience and service delivery. Creativity, innovation, and team work are fostered in our working environment in Ortigas Land.

We learn from the interactions with customers, industry leaders and market experts here and abroad. We research and read many articles related to our real estate business. We collaborate with many consultants and experts to improve our designs and make our products competitive in the market. It is a never ending learning, creativity, and innovation cycle that makes real estate development an exciting and fulfilling career as we create great living spaces and estates that last and increase in values over time.

Harnessing power of technology

Elizabeth L. Ventura

President

Anchor Land Holdings Inc.

Anchor Land has embraced cutting-edge solutions which helped future-proof its properties.

Anchor Land has always been very responsive to the needs of our niche market. We have embraced technologies in all facets of our operations long before the COVID-19 pandemic. This has been reflected in our digital achievers’ program which encourages the use of video conferencing for the convenience and safety of our clients. Prior to the pandemic, we have also started implementing our online property management system which has eliminated face-to-face contact in most of our projects’ day-to-day operations.

Elizabeth L. Ventura

Over the years, we have embraced more innovations and cutting-edge solutions which helped future-proof our properties. Our intelligent and environment-friendly building designs are already part of the standards in our properties for our customers’ ultimate comfort, convenience and safety, while maintaining aesthetics and functionality. We strive to offer our clients with the best living solutions. For instance, in 2011, we introduced air purification systems in our properties, which are the same ones installed in hospitals, to ensure the cleanest air quality in our clients’ residences. Open spaces for recreational activities and expansive residences with balconies have been a regular offering in our properties.

Anchor Land has gained the trust of its niche market because our properties have all been a result of our deep understanding of our clients. We have strongly relied on our customers’ feedback to understand their unmet and underserved needs. We have immersed ourselves in their culture and, over the years, have developed a strong feedback mechanism to learn from our customers and use their insights in coming up with a unique property.

We have also invested in strengthening our research base to keep our offerings relevant in these changing times. Combined with our solid market foresight, we are able to introduce sustainable and innovative solutions which help elevate the lifestyle of our clients. This has helped us go beyond developing projects based on market trends; instead, we integrate new technologies that will suit the needs of our clients and future-proof our developments, thereby remaining relevant in the new normal.

Changing the real estate customer experience

David Rafael

Chief executive officer

Aboitiz Land

What’s great with AboitizLand is that our developments are designed using planning principles that put a premium on healthy and balanced lifestyles, safety and self-sustaining communities even before the pandemic started. We are strategically located in next-wave cities that offer bigger spaces and more amenities while still highly accessible due to the burgeoning infrastructure projects connecting the provinces to the mega cities. The prevalence of work-from-home and online modes of study and business has made it possible for people to live outside of central business districts and opt for better living spaces.

This means that we were already offering wide open spaces, pocket parks and greenbelts, wellness and recreation areas, and safety and security in key cities outside Metro Manila and Metro Cebu—basically an upgraded, more breathable lifestyle for our vecinos in less populated communities.

Now that we are already living the new normal, we are also changing the real estate customer experience by digitizing the homebuying process from start to finish. We are doing this by latching on digital innovations, such as our soon-to-launch improved AboitizLand Vecino app wherein investing in a property with us can be done in the comfort of your couch, from reservations to tracking construction progress to applying for home loans to finally, moving into your new home. We are also investing in digital infrastructure covering all aspects of our operations that will allow us to automate our processes, with the goal of providing better customer service.

I leverage on the network I’ve built in my decades of experience in the real estate industry. I make sure to stay actively involved in organizations and broker groups to keep myself abreast of property trends, as well as what’s happening on the ground.

Adapting to changes, elevating the game

Deanna Jean A. Claveria

Chief operating officer and executive vice president

Suntrust Properties Inc.

We listen to the feedback coming from our sales people and clients to find out the evolving needs of our market under the new normal. Then we pattern our house designs to meet those needs. For example, the design of some of our new model houses consider isolation rooms or provide space for home office set up. We also consider proper air flow within the house or unit to support our health protocols on COVID-19.

Our subdivisions and condominiums also provide our homeowners easy access to shops for their basic necessities like water, laundry, grocery, etc. Our flagship project also has a science school offering pre-school to senior high school under a distance learning set up.

Suntrust Properties is a member of several leading real estate organizations that provide updates on the Philippine real estate industry including updates on DHSUD pronouncements. We also attend webinars about the Philippine economy in general and the real estate industry in particular. This allows us to assess our situation and come up with strategies on how to navigate our way under the new normal. The internet has a lot of information about real estate trends in the local and international market. Since we have mobility restrictions due to the pandemic, our market scan has now been confined to virtual tours of projects offered in the market.

Studying the market, taking the right approach

Ricardo “Cary” Lagdameo

First Vice President

Damosa Land

As I’ve said in the past, being in Davao, I feel we sometimes have an unfair advantage in the sense that we are able to see new trends and technologies as they are applied in other parts of the country and the world. Not to say that we simply copy new approaches but rather we have time to try and test these and see if they work. Customer reaction or feedback will then dictate how we adjust.

Nowadays research and info are abundant. It’s actually either a blessing or a curse as we run the risk of taking in too much info and not knowing how to sift through it. I read up as much as I can from expert research, foreign real estate articles, and see what’s the latest from various real estate organizations. I’m part of several organizations such as Urban Land, Greenpro, PHILEA, and a few others. Simply listening in on colleagues’ experiences also helps tremendously. Essentially, I attempt to take in as much data as I can, see what seems like consensus, see if this will apply to our projects in Davao, then proceed from there. Is this the right approach? Only time will tell I suppose!

Of curiosity, inspiration and new concepts

Alex Diesmos

Vice president-project development

Rockwell Land Corp.

There is no standard that can be used in designing and/or preparing for the post pandemic world. Our best reference so far are our experiences on what worked in handling several situations related to COVID-19. The lessons of each experience are what guides us now as we translate these into improvements to the projects and the services that we offer to our customers. One of our strengths as a company is being customer-centric and this has proved to be very useful because of all the information and feedback from our client’s own pandemic experiences. This information enhanced our own understanding of our customer’s needs and what we need to do in order to cater to them.

Because real estate affects different sectors of the economy, you cannot rely on just one source of information. You have to always be keen with trends and other business news that may be related to real estate. Being continuously curious about new local and international designs, technology and even your competitors’ products will inspire you to come up with new concepts and push you to stay ahead.

Breaking barriers, going beyond ordinary

Tracey Castillo

Assistant vice president-residential and retail development

Rockwell Land Corp.

Because of the current circumstances, our customers’ priorities have shifted. Many are also venturing outside Metro Manila when looking for a home for easy access to an abundance of nature, wide open spaces, and fresh air. We are able to cater to this need through Rockwell Horizontals.

Our communities in Laguna, Batangas, and soon, Bacolod allow one to build his or her ideal home with generous lot sizes, while our development in Mactan offers exclusive villas with easy access to the beach. We now also have digital selling platforms that provide clients with a safe alternative to in-person meetings, and will continue to be an efficient way to reach them even postpandemic. Even in our high-rise developments, we constantly find ways to curate amenities and create more opportunities for our unit owners to feel open space.

Convenience has also become a growing concern in these times. Rockwell On Demand, our buying assistance service at Power Plant Mall, provides shoppers an easy way to get their needs from the mall and have them picked up or delivered to their homes right away. We also launched our e-commerce platform, shop.TheRockwellist.com, for a curated selection of items from our retailers, as well as new brands. Being contactless has also become a standard for most customers. The Rockwellist Mobile App allows our shoppers to pay for their items safely through our mobile wallet powered by Paymaya.

Rockwell Streetside has likewise allowed diners to enjoy their meals in a safe, al fresco setting. We are maximizing open spaces and gardens in our community to create safe and enjoyable dining nooks. With or without the virus, I believe al fresco dining is here to stay. Future retail sites will also take into consideration improved convenience and accessibility for pick ups and outdoor dining, among others.

Current events and articles keep me updated with what’s happening nationally and globally. But, apart from keeping up to date with the trends and forecasts in the industry, it’s important to keep in touch with our clients.

As purveyors of a beyond ordinary lifestyle, we need to ensure that our clients continue to find ease and satisfaction despite the changing times. Keeping our communication lines open and getting feedback directly from them give us insights on their experiences on ground. This allows us to continuously improve our protocols and find effective ways to improve our residential and customer services.