THE HONEST BROKER : SELLING YOUR HOME DURING CORONAVIRUS

During this time of uncertainty and you don’t have a choice about removing your home from the market; there are some things that you can do to help keep everyone involved as safe and healthy as possible.

Cancel any open houses

Unfortunately, even though open houses are typically an efficient tool to show your home to many people at once, they are just not advisable right now, given the current restrictions around large gatherings. Put simply, there’s no easy way to regulate how many people come into your home at once during one of these events. Rather than risking creating an unsafe environment, it’s better just to cancel these events and to use other methods to market your home.

Use Technology to your benefit

Ask your agent about creating a video tour. To that end, it may be a good idea to ask your agent to create a video tour of your home as part of their marketing process. Many MLS websites allow agents to upload video files to listings in addition to photos. Watching a video tour will allow potential buyers to get a sense for the layout of your home before they see it in person. Ultimately, it will help give them a better idea of whether or not your home could be a good fit for them. On your end, it will also help to limit the amount of traffic going through your home to only those buyers who have serious interest in your property.

Clean your home before and after showings.

While you should always clean your home before showings, these days, this task is taking on a new level of importance. Be sure to clean your home as thoroughly as you can before and after any scheduled showings in order to create the safest possible environment for everyone involved. You may also want to have a selection of personal hygiene products like hand sanitizer available for buyers to use while they are viewing your home.

Use teleconferencing and e-signing programs to negotiate contracts

Once you do get an offer, you can handle it digitally. Thanks to technology, there are many different e-signing programs that you can use to sign contracts without having to go into an office and meet with your agent.

Lean on your agent for assistance if you’re unfamiliar with the process. Ask him or her to teleconference with you as you sign the documents. That way, you can get your questions answered before you sign on the dotted line.