5 Tips for House Showings During the Covid-19 Pandemic

As a Home Seller or Purchaser, this period of increased self-isolation and social distancing is certainly raising your anxiety over and above what the average individual feels during a  real estate transaction. Covid-19 or Coronavirus is on all our minds and the center of nearly every conversation and while we are all doing our best to follow WHO advice – the reality is that some of you may not be able to pause your house transaction. An impending work transfer, aging parents, financial pressure, loss of current housing are all examples of external timelines that won’t wait for this pandemic to end.

As an Agent working closely with Clients who are concerned about showings during this time, I hope that these 5 tips will help ease your mind:

1. If you are showing any cold/flu symptoms – STAY HOME. Even though you may not have the Covid-19, prevent spreading the common cold or flu during this challenging time. The house you may wish to see could be occupied by children, seniors or an immunocompromised individual. Let’s all do our part and keep our germs to ourselves.
2. Limit the showing to only the people who will be making the purchasing decision. Discuss ahead of time to arrange care for kids, record a video of the home, Skype or Face Time aging parents or members of the family that are high-risk. The more people that enter each home for sale only increases the risk for you and everyone else.
3. As a Seller: Keep a bottle of hand sanitizer at the front door for potential purchasers with a friendly note (print me!) – this will help keep everyone’s peace of mind that there are less likely to come in contact with any virus.
4. Turns all the lights on throughout the home  &  leave all the doors including the closet doors wide open. Home Buyers want to be able to see each room and closet space throughout the home. Limit unnecessary contact by ensuring the Buyer’s Agent or the Buyer does not have to touch the knobs at all.
5. Disinfect all high touch surfaces in your home at the end of each showing. Sellers – after you return home each night, quickly spray disinfectant on all high-touch surfaces in your home: door knobs (dont forget the front door), light switches, closet door handles, counter tops, toilet handles… and the lockbox that’s outside too!

Remember that this too shall pass and we are all in this together.  So even if you need to sell or buy a home during this high stress time, hopefully the tips above will bring you some peace of mind.