How do you sell your home safely during COVID-19?
Let’s talk about how to sell your home safely during the Covid-19 epidemic. First I want to share with you some very surprising statistics because most people think that real estate has stopped completely.
That’s actually not true. In, not even the entire county, because I’ve excluded some of the further regions of the county, but in most of the county in the past 30 days, there have been about 1,651 new escrows of single-family homes. That does not even include duplexes, apartment buildings, commercial property, we’re just talking about houses and condos.
In the past seven days, there have been 570 sales. So I bet if I ask the average person how many homes sold the past week in San Diego? They’d probably say 20.
Here’s another shocking statistic, the average market time of those homes is 23 days. The lesson here is that homes are selling.
So if you need to sell your home, if you want to sell your home, if you’re not able to or don’t want to wait until things get back almost to normal, homes are selling.
So let’s talk about some of the changes, and also how to sell your home safely. First of all, real estate has kind of been, physically based and digitally enhanced. That means people go on the internet, but the main thing was to actually go to the home.
However, that’s changed at least for now. It is now digitally based and physically enhanced. So people are doing as much as they can on their smartphone, on their computer, on their tablet, and then towards the end of the process, they’re going in and looking at the home.
As we talk about how to sell your home safely, I’m going to divide it into different slices to make it a little bit simpler. This is going to be talking about how I work and other agents may work the same way but, we’re going to divide the process into the initial consultation with me, marketing and showings, and then escrow and inspections.
Another way I’m going to divide this is high tech and low tech. The initial consultation, the high tech approach is by phone, and yeah that’s not really that high tech of course, we could also do a video or Zoom call. And I’ll just quickly say there have been some things going on with Zoom, but really that’s very low risk, and we use passwords and so I wouldn’t really worry about that.
Could also include a video tour, where if you don’t want me coming over, you can give me a tour with your phone so I can see your house. And then, e-signatures. So the initial consultation, that’s the high tech approach.
The low tech approach, and there’s nothing wrong with that, is me coming by using personal protection equipment, gloves, mask, that type of thing, and social distancing. And then in some cases you might say, you know what come look at my house, I’m going to leave, I meaning you, I’m going to leave while you look at my house so that we’re not there at the same time, and that’s fine if you chose to.
Now once you hire me, the marketing and showings, here’s the high tech approach. Photographs, so again that’s not anything that new, video, not extremely new but we do really fantastic photos and video. Then something that I just invested, about $1,000 into a special camera that does amazing 360-degree walkthrough tours, where a home buyer can do a self-guided walkthrough of your home on their computer, on their smartphone, et cetera.
Also virtual open houses and virtual showings. I won’t go into all the details, but just know we’ve got this figured out how to do things virtually so that people are not coming into your home if you’re not comfortable with that.
Now let’s talk about some of the low tech things we’re doing. That would include what we call our PEAD declaration. Which is a form where the agent and the buyer sign saying we do not have Covid-19 to our knowledge, we have not been around anyone with it, we will wear masks, gloves, et cetera. So that’s the first part. And then there is the PPE of course. And then social distancing. And then if you choose to, you leaving your home when it’s shown, that’s a good idea. There’s also the option if you’re really concerned to have your home professionally cleaned in some fashion between showings.
And then also vetting buyers before they come in. Now how much we vet buyers is up to you, just know that the more that we vet them, some qualified buyers may not see your home because they don’t want to be vetted so strongly beforehand, but it’s something we can discuss so you’re comfortable.
And then lastly, the ibuyer, so that is a type of investor that would buy your home, you wouldn’t even have to put it on the market. I will tell you, they do not pay full price for a home. There is a little bit of a profit margin they build in. So we can talk about this, this is probably a good option for maybe 5% of my clients, but I want to put it out there for you.
Now, the third step is, once there’s an offer accepted, the escrow and inspection period. So many lenders have now adjusted and are doing their appraisals via drive-by or their computer. Then there are e-signatures, and then we are about to get to the e-notary part, so instead of meeting with a notary to have your deed notarized, signed off, witnessed, et cetera, we very close to the state approving that to be done electronically. That’s not approved yet, but I think it will be very soon.
And then, the low tech, so that would include once again, the PPE, social distancing, probably just having the inspector there by himself or herself, you leaving the home it’s recommended, and then also the option to have it cleaned in between.
That’s kind of a summary, and maybe it’s not 100% perfect, but we’ve got it pretty well figured out. And just to say again, your safety is definitely first. So if you want to talk to me further, email gary@garykent.com, or call or text me at 858-457-5368. I’d love to talk to you and answer your questions. Whether you’re ready now or just have questions now. I’d just like to have a conversation. Talk to you soon!
