2020 has been a wild ride in the Colorado Springs Real Estate community. While Realtors® were deemed as essential, it really boiled down to being essential for getting any existing transactions closed. As far as new business was concerned, the regulations around how we were able to help clients sell or buy a home during COVID-19 made it very difficult to do our jobs.
Like most of our colleagues, the agents at Springs Homes spent a good amount of time in on-line continuing education classes and webinars. While we appreciate the time to catch up on our continuing education, our agents are ready to get back to selling homes.
Safer at Home
The next phase in the reopening of the economy for Colorado is “Safer at Home“. This phase looks to ease the stay at home restriction for those less vulnerable populations while keeping the stay at home restrictions in place for those at higher risk.
All Colorado residents are urged to continue with social distancing measures, mask-wearing, and to stay at home as much as possible, especially those at higher risk.
Home Sellers
The Safer at Home guidelines are good news for home sellers because buyers can actually see you home in person before making an offer. We expect this will cut down on the number of deals that have been falling out. The previous guidelines were such that the buyer really couldn’t see the property until they made an offer and had that offer accepted. We found that many buyers were simply terminating the deal once they saw the property.
The new guidelines allow for in-person showings with the stipulation that there are no more than 3 people present in-home at any one time. As far as in-person listing appointments are concerned, they are permitted where virtual meetings are not feasible. The new guidelines also allow for stagers and professional photographers to begin working again.
Once again in order to provide our home seller clients with that highest level of service while adhering to national, state, and local guidelines, we will adhere to the following guidelines until something changes:
- Listing Agent will provide for buyer showings:
- Booties
- Hand sanitizer
- Masks
- Gloves
- We will once again be able to provide the following marketing for our listings:
- Professional Photography
- Matterport 3D Virtual Tour of Property. This is invaluable for buyers that can’t do in-person showings
- Virtual Agent WalkThrough-This is a new feature we developed during the No In-Person Showings phases of the Stay at Home Order. We like this so much, we are going to start using it on all of our listings moving forward. Here is an example
Home Buyers
The new Safer at Home guidelines allows for in-person showings to begin on April 27th. In order to provide our clients with the level of service they expect while adhering to national, state, and local guidelines, we will adhere to the following guidelines:
- We will provide showings for serious inquiries only, pre-approved buyers please – no lookie-loos for now!
- All agents will wear a mask if showing a home and ask the same of our clients – keep breathing!
- All agents will wear gloves while showing a home and ask the same of our client – don’t touch if you don’t have to!
- We will sanitize surfaces we must touch or have touched – keep the germies away!
- Only involved parties may attend a showing, no more than two people plus the agent – sorry, Grandma!
- We will continue virtual showings – we’re happy to give you a personalized virtual showing!
- If you are an at-risk individual we ask that you consider waiting to attend an in-person showing – we don’t want to put you in danger!
Advice For Home Buyers
This is still a very difficult environment for homebuyers. If you are at risk or fearful about getting out, even in this current environment, by all means, stay at home. We should see inventory improved throughout the spring and into the summer.
If on the other hand, you are ready to buy, our agents are ready to show. It is a good time for serious homebuyers to be in the market. This is traditionally our “busy” season and sellers in this market are generally very serious. As always it’s important to be pre-approved before heading out, agents and home sellers shouldn’t be spending their time with “looky-loos”.
If you want to see what is currently on the market, we recommend looking for Homes For Sale in Colorado Springs with our search tool. The information is updated multiple times throughout the day. It’s a great way to stay up to date with the market.
Advice For Home Sellers
Much like homebuyers, If you are nervous about allowing people into your house and you don’t need to sell right now, we recommend waiting until you are comfortable. Based on pre “stay at home” inventory levels, we expect there will be an inventory shortage throughout the summer.
If on the other hand, you are ready to sell, this is a good market for serious home sellers. There is not a lot of inventory but any buyer willing to get out and make an offer in this crazy environment is serious.
In Conclusion
People need a place to live and this is why we do what we do. While the environment in the real estate market is not ideal, at least we can help our clients buy and sell and we are grateful for that.
If you are nervous about getting out into public, by all means, wait until you are comfortable. If on the other hand, you are ready to go, So are we!!!