Due to the pandemic, home showings have changed. The first and most obvious change to how showings are conducted is that there are no more open houses. This is a huge bummer because we enjoy these events. Unfortunately, there can’t be more than 10 people in a place at a time. 

Secondly, there are no more overlapping showings. We used to have four to five people checking out the home at a time, but now we’re reduced to one 30-minute showing window at a time. While this doesn’t limit the overall number of people who can see the home, it does a great job of limiting the likelihood of contact with the virus. 

Third, there are no showings for symptomatic buyers. The Attorney General has asked that every real estate agent take their temperature before showing for the day, and if they’re over 100.4 degrees, then they don’t show at all that day. 

“We’re offering virtual showings!”

Thankfully, we’re offering virtual showings to help our clients who can’t schedule an in-person showing or don’t yet feel comfortable doing so. Using FaceTime, Google Hangouts, or Zoom on our phones, we’re able to set aside time to walk through properties and showcase all of the aspects of them to buyers watching from the comfort of their homes. Our clients can ask us questions like, “Is there a lot of traffic wear on the carpets,” and we can bring our phones closer to have a look. Once we narrow down your home search through these virtual tours, we can then set up a time for you to see a potential favorite in person. 

We recommend that sellers leave all lights on and doors open when they leave the home before a showing. This helps decrease the number of times strangers will have to touch something inside the house. 

We also offer high-quality photo and video options for sellers. To see the caliber of videos we produce, click on some of our links below:

https://youtu.be/hdRJuCgF4zI
https://youtu.be/Et2NW72-n_E
https://youtu.be/4pIrSHhHK40

While we’ve always offered amazing photos, they’ve become all the more important nowadays. The local MLS has just upped the limit of how many photos can be attached to a listing. Let’s be honest: Your first real showing is always the moment you look at a home online. The name of the game is increasing visibility and exposure for sellers and providing an immersive, time-saving experience for buyers. 

In addition to temperature checks, the Attorney General has established some other guidelines for showings: 

  • Sellers: You must place a COVID-19 cautionary disclosure on your front door
  • Only pre-qualified buyers are allowed to physically view homes (no looky-loos or nosey neighbors—potential buyers only) 

Once this health crisis eases, we believe we’ll see some of these changes to the industry stick around, simply because they’re more efficient. Of course, plenty of things are still changing, and we’ll continue to communicate the latest real estate news. 

In the meantime, please reach out via phone or email if you have any questions about this or other real estate topics or are interested in buying or selling. We’re always here to help.