Some sellers are holding off on listing their home until the Coronavirus crisis is behind us. But what if you need to sell now? There are many reasons why sellers can’t wait – and several reasons why we recommend they DO sell now. In the state of Arizona, real estate is listed as an essential service. People are still relocating due to work, having life events that necessitate a move, and still wanting to downsize. We’re seeing a lot of people who realize that they need a bigger home right now, too, for obvious reasons!
So if you are needing to sell your home, but are concerned about exposure to the Coronavirus, we at Team Three 23 have protocols in place. The following methods are adapted based on CDC guidelines as well as the National Association of REALTORS recommendations.
Following the protocols listed will help you safely sell your home during the Coronavirus crisis:
- Prequalified buyers ONLY! This isn’t the time to allow tire-kickers or people who can’t afford your home inside. We’re recommending our sellers require the buyer’s agent to provide us as the listing agent their buyer’s prequalification form from their preferred lender prior to entering an occupied home. If the home you have to sell is vacant, we aren’t requiring it. But in this unprecedented time of crisis, it’s important to make sure that ONLY real buyers are entering your home if you’re living there.
- Virtual Tours and videos. We are using technology that provides virtual tours of your home. This way buyers can see an accurate representation of your home without having to step foot inside. This helps us weed out potential buyers who would get inside only to learn they don’t like the floorplan or the general look and feel of the home. Sometimes the way the photos appear, everything looks perfect! Then a buyer gets inside and knows it won’t work for them. A virtual and/or video tour helps eliminate that from happening. Here’s an example of a virtual tour we provide, and here’s an example of a video tour.
- Using protective measures for showings. Once we have a prequalified buyer who has seen the virtual tour and is excited about your home, we can schedule the showing. As the seller of the home, you are in control of the terms of your showing. We’re recommending that our sellers require anyone entering the home to use the following measures:
- Masks are a must! As the seller, you don’t need to provide these since they are currently in short supply. People can wear medical masks, create their own, purchase ones online, or just use a bandana or scarf to cover their nose and mouth.
- Booties on or shoes off. We can provide slip on booties for buyers and agents to wear while in the seller’s home. Or they can simply take off their shoes while inside.
- Hand sanitizer or washing hands immediately upon entering. Anyone entering needs to have clean hands. They can either use hand sanitizer that they bring or that we provide at the door. If hand sanitizer isn’t available, we recommend having buyers and agents go to the bathroom closest to the entry to wash hands and dry with paper towels – soap and paper towels should be made available by the seller.
- Disinfectant wipes. Provided for the buyers and their agents, disinfectant wipes can be used to touch any door handles or other surfaces. In addition, we recommend our sellers leave lights on and closet doors open to minimize the need for surfaces to be touched.
- Limit the number of people in the home at any one time. 2-3 people maximum viewing the home at any given moment. If there are more buyers on the tour than that, buyer agents are being asked to only escort 2 at a time through the inside of the property.
- Virtual Open Houses only! No in-person open houses are being held at this time. Once the stay-at-home order is lifted, we’ll consider holding live open houses again with certain precautions like the ones listed above. But for now, we can do a virtual open house. This is when the agent schedules an event on social media and then does a Live Virtual tour.
If you’re in the greater Flagstaff area, which includes Munds Park, Williams, Parks, and Bellemont, we’re here to help you get your home sold safely and in a timely manner. Contact us at Team Three 23 with Realty ONE Group Mountain Desert at 928-714-7244 or by contacting us here. We’re all in this together, and we want to help you stay healthy and safe while also meeting your real estate goals.
