Protecting Your Family While Selling Your Home in A Covid World

You may have heard, that the inventory levels in Northeast Florida real estate market is very low. We are seeing even more multiple offers situations and houses going under contract quickly. If they’re priced right and not ugly, of course. Levels like we saw in 2005, even lower! So that means we need more houses for the current buyer demand.

I think a big reason we have such a small amount of homes on the market is due to owners being nervous about listing their home, and opening it up to strangers who may or may not have the virus. That’s very understandable and while I’ll be talking about ways to protect you and your family in this blog post, I am not going to guilt you into listing and tell you that it’s perfectly safe. That’s for you to decide and I’m not gonna judge you based on your decision. Either way you decide.

If you do decide listing your home is the way to go, here are some ways we can protect you and your family…

1. Require everyone to wear masks. That’s the buyers and their agent. Sellers, you should be out of the house!

2. Limit it to just the buyers purchasing the home, not their family members. Kids being the exception. Now, I have been reading in Facebook groups of agents limiting even the kids. If we do that, we have to understand that could limit showings if they can’t find a sitter.

3. No overlapping appointments. Which means one set of buyers and agent at a time.

4. The seller turns on all the lights and opens all the closet doors. Don’t forget the blinds as well. The buyer and their agent doesn’t touch any of them.

5. Have hand sanitizer at the front door for them to use.

6. Home inspections are limited to just the buyers and their agent. No family members.

7. Photography. The seller follows the checklist to have the house prepared for the photo session. Just the lone photographer goes in, wearing a mask.

8. Appraisals. Some lenders are allowing drive by appraisals, where they don’t even come inside. For the ones who still go inside, it’s a short visit. Turn lights on and we will request they wear a mask.

Depending on the condition of your home and the price, with the way the market is moving, it’s possible to sell quickly, which will decrease how many people come in your home.

Thinking of selling? Wanna talk stats and market price? Send me a text or give me a call, I can go over all that with you, with no pressure or obligation at 904-910-3516. Or click the link to fill out the home value form below:

Also, check out my free guides for buyers and sellers below.