A few weeks ago Nina Weingart heard she had passed the exams for the Federal Certificate of Proficiency in Real Estate Management. Originally from Solothurn, Nina only joined Helvetia a little over two years ago – as a change of career, as it were. "I had a commercial degree, and I tried my hand at various jobs", Nina says, "some of them abroad. Then I spent about two and a half years in customer service with a health insurance company. Before joining Helvetia I spent a year as a project assistant in the Building Department, which is where I discovered my interest in real estate management."

"There are always complaints, though"

Nina started as an administrative officer in February 2020 – just before Covid-19 broke out. "There had been regular media reports that Covid-19 was affecting real estate management, of course. The isolation rules made relocation difficult, for example, and I'd heard that only limited viewings could take place. There were also countless construction delays due to delivery problems – but we were very lucky during that whole period", says this real estate manager, looking back. Her projects always went according to plan.

Even so – and one has to be aware of this – complaints are always possible in real estate management: "They're part of the job, so to speak. Housing is an essential, emotional subject. When complaints arise, I always try to put myself in the tenants' shoes." Keeping a cool head – is something she knows about from her job in customer service. At the same time her commercial training was useful in the administrative aspect of her work, as well as for correspondence. To her, the real estate field was uncharted territory – yet after only a few months as an administrative officer, she had already managed to move up to junior real estate manager.

"I was very lucky with my bosses. Their expertise is fantastic, and the on-the-job training they gave me was outstanding. The good thing about all this is that what you put into our team comes back – with interest." Since receiving her professional certificate, Nina is now officially a real estate manager – and she's very happy: "For the first time I have an employer that gives me both challenges and opportunities – right from the start. In my previous jobs I was always told I had potential and everyone was very happy, but opportunities for promotion were limited. So I'm very happy that I made it into this team", Nina says with pride.

Over a thousand apartments to look after

She has been very busy with her biggest project so far, the BäreTower: "There are about 152 rental units on 32 floors. The first tenants moved in at the beginning of April 2022, and that was really exciting to see. We had blocked off the whole month of April to make the process as smooth as possible, and to be available in case they had any questions." Nina looks after a total of over a thousand apartments in 17 or so properties: "For me the best thing about this job is that I have to deal with very different people. Sometimes it's tradesmen, sometimes it's caretakers, and sometimes it's tenants."

If anybody wants to imagine her job, her day-to-day life, she says, they can see it as having three components: legal, structural and psychological. "The psychological component is very, very important. Personally I love being there for my contacts and talking to them.I'm very communicative by nature", she concludes with a smile, "and that's certainly helpful to anyone who's in a hurry to get a foothold in real estate management."