Selling Your Home During COVID

With all the uncertainty of recent weeks, I am receiving lots of questions about the Real Estate market.  The bottom line is, we are still working as we are considered an essential business.  I will also say, it’s anything but “business as usual”. 

I have several seller clients who have decided to wait until the ties of this pandemic loosen.  I get it.  If you are waiting, there are things you can do now to get the house ready for when things do subside, and they will.  Use this time to declutter, spruce up the exterior, plant flowers, paint interior walls if they need it.  Sellers “on hold” will be in a race to get on the market quickly when the time comes, so get your ducks in a row.

For those who need to sell now, it’s actually a great time.  Buyers are out!  There are precautions in place, however, to keep everyone safe.  Open houses are no longer an option and overlapping showings are not allowed.  Individual tours are still taking place and in most cases Buyer’s agents are showing properties virtually through FaceTime, Zoom or other online platforms.  Shoes are left outside the house and wipes are used for opening cabinet doors and closets for virtual viewing.  Instructions also ask no one touch any surfaces, to leave lights on and to use hand sanitizer prior to and after viewing a property.  Often times, a pre-approval letter is required before a showing will be confirmed.  In other words, only serious buyers are allowed; no looky loos!

In some cases, Sellers are asking offers to be submitted with the contingency that the buyer physically see the house after the offer is accepted.  These precautions limit the number of people entering homes and keeps everyone safe.

We are in unchartered waters, but it is working!  For information on what’s happening with Buyer’s, watch for the next post!

Be safe!