I think many of us are feeling that the new COVID lockdown guidelines are as clear as mud. While we don’t have all the answers just yet, I’ll attempt to clarify what we know so far. When it comes to real estate and construction, here’s what we’re looking at for the next month or longer.
Realtors and real estate services are still considered essential and are permitted to continue with proper COVID precautions. The good news is we’ve been here before. This means that if you need to buy or sell in the next little while, you can rest assured that we have found policies and procedures to allow you to safely proceed.
The current guidelines for ensuring buyer and seller safety include:
- no open houses
- no double bookings on in-person showings
- proper PPE and hand/surface sanitizing is required
- in-person showings are permitted but should be minimized, scheduled in advance, and limited to one group of two people (plus buyer agent)
- virtual resources should be used as much as possible to substitute in-person (using Zoom and other virtual or remote platforms for client meetings, and making use of all online tools when checking out a property before going to view in-person, virtual staging, etc.)
Individual brokerages are also going steps beyond with COVID disclosure forms and particular policies for their agents.
After our experience last year with COVID and working from home, many of our partners (real estate lawyers, mortgage brokers, cooperating real estate brokerages, etc.) have now adapted to offer an increased level of service at a distance. Many brokerages now accommodate deposits via electronic fund transfer instead of having to bring a physical bank draft. Electronic signatures for important legal and financial documents are now not only accepted, but encouraged.
Some questions are still unanswered, such as whether or not our ancillary service providers such as stagers, photographers, home inspectors are permitted to continue facilitating property sales. For now any new construction, meaning projects starting after January 14th are on hold. Projects that have already physically commenced (hammer in the wall or other physical modification) are permitted to continue but new construction projects cannot be started. We aren’t sure how this is will also impact the real estate industry as many buyers and sellers rely on being able to improve their property.
As we touched on in my last blog, there’s a real shortage of supply after the December activity absorbed much of the leftover inventory from months before. January is typically a slower month for activity and supply, but this year we are definitely seeing fewer options. With the high demand for houses feeling eerily similar to early 2017 and a shortage of supply and insatiable demand, offer dates and bully offers will become more predominant. For more information on how these operate, check out this blog.
Questions about your particular situation? Not sure what the best timing is for you and your family to make a move? Send me an email, text or call to talk about your goals and we’ll formulate a strategic plan!
Photo by Hello I’m Nik 🎞 on Unsplash
