The Bermudian checks in with Real Estate Associate at Rego Sotheby’s International Realty, Ben Rego to see how things are going.

BM: How have the last few weeks been for you?
BR: It has definitely strange. It almost feels like this has been one terrible dream. Me and the family are keeping well and trying to stay positive.

BM: How is the working from home going? Are you getting anything done?
BR: Absolutely, work has been completely fine and going on as usual even from home. In real estate, I am often working on the road, from home, or wherever I might be, so I am used to remoting into our server to be productive. Of course, no more house showings at the moment, so we have experienced sight-unseen offers from people on both rentals and 1 sales listing, yet the majority of what is keeping me busy is ongoing negotiations for pending sales transactions, and future planning on how to capitalize on this downtime for when life returns to normal.

BM: How is your family coping? Have you found some surprising upsides to spending more time together?
BR: It really has been special spending every single moment with my wife and son. I am fortunate in that I work off of my own schedule, so I am typically available to be there for important occasions for him each day, but to have him as the focus of my entire day now has been amazing. He is now 19-months old so he is busier than ever, so we have little games and a plan for each day on how to continue to keep him excited, active and learning.

BM: What are you doing to stay positive?
BR: My wife and I have been doing side by side workouts from some online training videos. We are also planning on moving to our forever home hopefully by the end of the year, so we have been busy picking out fixtures and fittings with the interior designers so that has been very exciting for us to look forward to. Nothing like a lockdown to make us realize that we need more space with a little toddler running around!

BM: How about your friends and extended family? Do you have any virtual get-togethers often?
BR: Yes I am active on video chats each day, it is the new normal and it has been really fun. It is quite ironic that in these times of isolation I have actually reconnected with so many friends both locally and around the world. In fact, I have a video chat with my college friends later today from where I graduated back in 2011! Also, my company has been active using Microsoft Teams for meetings, while we chat to my parents and my in-laws quite often on apps such as Facetime, House Party, and Zoom. In these times, we are so fortunate to have this technology to keep us connected and positive, I am so grateful for that.

BM: What are you doing to stay healthy?
BR: My wife and I typed up a menu and put it on the fridge with various healthy meals we can have for each day. With shopping being so restricted and hectic, we wanted to know exactly what inventory for food we have available and try to stay as healthy as possible with what we eat that way. That, and of course our workouts we do, going for walks within our 0.5 mile radius to Salt Kettle or to Belmont from where we live, and chasing around little baby Harry!

BM: What are you listening to? Any new-found audio pleasures you wouldn’t normally have time for?
BR: We’ve been teaching Harry some nursery rhymes, so unfortunately many of those are constantly stuck in my head! We sometimes have a little happy hour chat with family and friends so we play our favorite pop, reggae and rap songs, or watch my father play the guitar for us which my son loves.

BM: Any other unexpected pleasures?
BR: Cleaning! I think now is a time where many people are doing little home improvement projects, so we have been doing much of the same as well as obsessing over keeping the place absolutely spotless – which is a never-ending struggle once the toys come out!

BM: Have you been doing any baking? Anything so good you want to share the recipe with us?
BR: We made homemade bread for the first time. The recipe actually came from our good friend Catherine Wight’s family, and it is SO good! Although, I’m not sure if she would want us sharing the recipe, so maybe we will deliver some bread to friends and family once the lockdown is over instead.

BM: Thanks for taking the time to chat, Ben. Sending our best wishes to you and your family for happy days ahead and good health.