Manhattan, New York. Shutterstock.

Nationwide there has been a general disruption with COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus. With the global pandemic unfolding, the real estate industry is not immune to its effects. To shoulder the temporarily new normal of isolation in the face of the current public health crisis, real estate brokers are relying heavily on technology more than ever to get deals done, Maria Avellaneda, a broker at real estate brokerage firm Compass, tells GlobeSt.com.

Commercial properties risk seeing tenants default on loans because these businesses don't have income coming in and overall transactions have slowed down like never before near financial crisis levels, according to Avellaneda. "We're reacting to something completely out of our control, it's not like the financial crisis and how it was related to mortgages and specialists knew better to figure out measurements and how to control it," she said. 

Avellaneda and other brokers are relying on technology to continue to do their jobs, transitioning anything that requires in-person communication to virtual interaction, such as having conference calls, setting up online payment structures and banking platforms. 

"Everybody is trying to find solutions for daily problems so we can continue operating," she said.

No one knows how long this virus will play out, in an effort to remain proactive Avellaneda said that relying on virtual tours and the use of drones to evaluate properties for investors is most recommended to limit physical activity. "Using technology, we won't have the same volume of business but we won't have a total disruption of business," she said.