Here are my tips to help you successfully sell your home during the age of coronavirus.
As agents, we’re trying to minimize our clients’ exposure to the coronavirus. We’re not driving to properties with our clients anymore; we’re meeting them there and asking that all parties involved with the transaction wear masks, gloves, and other protective materials.
We’re also encouraging our clients to take a good hard look at the property before they decide to go inside. To help, we’re sending all of the documents in the MLS, we’re sending them virtual home tours (if available), and in some cases, we’re even guiding them through video walk-throughs on apps like FaceTime.
Listing agents should also include in the showing instructions exactly what they expect from the buyer agents, including requirements regarding masks and gloves. I’ve had people show up to listings without wearing any protective coverings, and that wasn’t acceptable. They should also do a video walk-through for each of their listings. Unlike virtual tours, a video walk-through shows you through the property in a similar way as though you were walking through it in person. That’s much more helpful to the buyer.
We agents are doing our very best to be careful, cautious, and respectful.
We’re also live streaming open houses rather than having them in person. However, if you’re a homeowner who chooses to have an in-person open house and it’s allowed in your area, try to limit it to no more than two or three guests in the house at any given time. As a homeowner, you’re also able to limit the number of showings you schedule on a given day.
Many listing agents have been using electronic signature programs for quite some time. Even though some sellers don’t like to sign documents that way, I recommend that you do so in order to minimize exposure to the virus. These programs are simple and easy.
Listing agents can also require that a buyer agent and their clients answer a few simple questions about their exposure to COVID-19 or if they’ve exhibited any flu-like symptoms recently.
We also recommend that you leave all your lights on and all the interior doors ajar so as to minimize how many people are forced to make contact with them to take a closer look within a home. As a precaution, you’ll want to regularly disinfect knobs and surfaces before and after showings.
If in the extremely unfortunate situation that you begin to exhibit flu-like symptoms or test positive for COVID-19, it may be a good idea to take your property off the market for 14 days and extend it on the other side.
All in all, we agents are doing our very best to be careful, cautious, and respectful. If you have any questions about how to show your home or manage a transaction during the pandemic, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d love to help you.