Ugh, well I never thought I would be writing this post. I actually had a post called “How to be a good buyer” scheduled for last week. I postponed it hoping that this pandemic would all blow over by now. I know, I’m naïve but I haven’t had much experience with pandemics before now. So instead of just ignoring my blog altogether I thought I’d put together a little guide on etiquette for buyers at this time because unfortunately, some people just got caught between houses when things got serious. Job transfers, divorces, bankruptcy, houses sold before the pandemic hit, etc. etc. are all some examples of why people have to find housing at this time when everyone else is trying to stay home.
So, if you’ve found your self in this situation where you need to buy or have to sell, here are some guidelines to stay safe.
Buyers (see below):
1. PRE QUALIFY!!! I can’t stress this one enough. Please do NOT start shopping until you know if you can buy a house or if you don’t know how much you can afford. It’s not fair to a seller to enter their house (at any time actually) if you aren’t in a position to buy.
2. Be ready to sign a COVID-19 Buyer Client Waiver whereby you will acknowledge that you are not showing signs of symptoms or have travelled in the past 14 days.
3. Pre-shop on-line! I am a stickler for good listing photos and have been doing 3D virtual tours and videos of all of my listings so that people can really get to know a property before they view it. The idea in today’s situation is to limit the number of homes you enter that aren’t really right for you.
4. Drive yourself to the showing. You can not maintain a safe distance from someone in the same vehicle.
5. Do not bring children. They are filthy…..just kidding. Home is the safest place to keep little people and their wandering fingers.
6. Wear fresh gloves for each property.
7. Wear a mask.
8. Do not touch ANYTHING. Let your agent get the door for you. Sellers will have been advised to leave the lights on and closet doors open.
9. Conduct all of your paperwork and conversations with your agent over the phone or internet. Virtual meetings can be fun, especially if you want to see your agent’s pets in the background.
Ideally, we’d all just stay at home until this was all done but the fact is that some people don’t have a home right now to tuck into. Stay safe, I’m just a phone call or a text away!
H