Tips for Showing Your Home Safely

When it comes to your privacy and safety, you shouldn’t cut any corners. Showing your home in the best of times requires careful planning and attention to detail; however, the need for increased precautions during the coronavirus pandemic is paramount. 

If your home is on the market, or if you are planning to sell it soon, it is vital that you take the necessary precautions to keep yourself and everyone around you safe. COVID-19 can survive on surfaces and can easily be transmitted through the air. Thus, it is recommended that you take special care when showing your home.

Your average home-showing tips for sellers are always important to take into account, but due to the pandemic, they’ve gotten a bit of a facelift. These tips for showing your home will include some of the usual stand-bys as well as newly relevant tips as we navigate the real estate industry in the midst of a pandemic. 

The way in which we proceed with selling homes will be altered in a big way as a result of the widespread coronavirus. It is also important to note that safety guidelines vary widely from region to region and from state to state. However, at this point in time we have some very good information about how and why the coronavirus spreads and what we can do to stop the spread as much as possible. Those standards are universal and we should do our best to adhere to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines set forth. 

It’s hard to imagine now a world in which you open your home to streams of strangers, i.e. prospective homebuyers, and leave them to wander through your house asking questions. At this point, after months of social distancing you may find that thought unfathomable. At some point in the extended future the threat of the coronavirus will diminish, but for now we must use the tools we have available to make selling our homes as safe and convenient as possible.

So, let’s talk about walk-throughs then, shall we. Are they necessary?

Do Buyers Want Walk-Throughs at This Point in Time?

Early on in the pandemic the answer to that was a simple no. However, as the months have gone by, more and more buyers are looking to get out there for real, in-person walk-throughs. If in-person walk-throughs are a must in your area, keep reading, we will address that shortly.

 Virtual tours took the place of in-person tours at the outset of the pandemic. They may not be the same as in-person tours, but they gave buyers an intimate look into your home and coupled with information about square footage, etc., they provided much, if not all of the necessary information. Using technologies like video tours has been a literal lifesaver for home sellers since the initial shutdown following the coronavirus. Via video tours, agents and sellers were able to dramatically decrease the need for in-person tours, thus keeping everyone safe and in their homes. Not showing your home (in-person that is) was one of the best tips for showing your home early on. 

However, depending on your locality, you may be at a point as a seller where you are looking for home showing tips for sellers that take into account your desire to provide in-person showings to prospective buyers. If this is the case, please proceed with caution and always follow state and local regulations with regards to gatherings and safety procedures. 

Here are some tips that should be followed wherever possible for best results.

5 Home-Showing Tips for Sellers Today

1. You may want to limit in-person viewings to buyers with a mortgage pre-approval. By doing this you can reduce the amount of foot traffic and limit in-person tours to only the buyers you know are most likely to be acceptable and serious. Consider the fact that a buyer who has begun work with a lender and has been pre-approved is further along in their process than their counterpart who has not done the same and they may be a more reliable bet.
2. Let your agent assist you in the paperwork/documents and negotiations. Your agent will also follow guidelines to use a logbook to track each person entering your home. This is essential as we know that contact tracing is an important step in curbing the outbreak of the virus. For best results and peace of mind, work with a reputable real estate agent profiled on Homes & Land.
3. Encourage virtual tours as much as possible and work with your agent to make them as seamless as possible.
4. Leaving your house during scheduled tours is not only completely fine but is actually recommended during the pandemic. 
5. Provide necessary cleaning supplies including hand soap, disinfectant and hand sanitizer for buyers when you set up for a tour. Consider making disposable masks available as well in case anyone has forgotten theirs. Even though you won’t be home for the tour, the virus can still be transmitted through the air, so it is best for everyone if masks stay on throughout the entirety of the visit. 

Getting ready to sell and show your home? Find a qualified real estate agent at Homes & Land and take the next steps with confidence.