24K Real Estate operations during Stay At Home order
With all the recent orders that were issued, I’d like to share the new protocol for working with our clients. While real estate transactions and related business have been labeled an essential service by the Governor’s office, there are still some limitations we have to follow. Here is a summary of what we have received from the Division of Real Estate as well as our local, state and national associations.
In regard to the current environment with the pandemic and the stay at home order for the State of Colorado, here is guidance on how to proceed.
As a licensed real estate agent, you have a duty of reasonable care to your clients.
- Follow Colorado’s stay-at-home order. If you do not have to conduct business right now, then you should be staying home.
- Do not host open houses.
- Only work with clients who truly need to buy or sell right now. If your seller can wait, provide guidance and let them know it is an option to pause a listing’s availability for physical showings.
- If you do have a client who needs/ desires to buy right now, look for alternative ways to show and view properties that do not put anyone’s health at risk. Utilize virtual tours and all the technology at your disposal so you can provide them remote service in the safety of their home.
- Showings should only take place for buyers who need/ desire to buy right now and who have screened the properties as thoroughly as possible before an in-person showing takes place.
We are following the above guidance while adding what services we can to serve our clients who are in the midst of, or have a need to begin, a real estate purchase or sale.
We are available to video conference via multiple platforms including Zoom and can of course conduct business via video calls, regular calls, email, texting etc.
Our MLS portal will allow you to not only view any listings you want to see, it will also allow you to seamlessly communicate in real time with us by putting notes on each listing, right in the same window in which you are viewing the house.
We are happy to ask agents with listings that interest you to provide a 360 degree virtual tour or have their client take a video/ pictures of any specific area in the home about which you have questions. We already offer Matterport tours on our own listings so you can see every room and the exterior of the home at all angles. Again if you have a question about a specific feature / area of one of our listings, we are happy to have the seller get us more detail via video / pictures or written narrative.
In cases where we have worked with you to pre-screen a property thoroughly and you are highly likely to make an offer should the property match your expectations of condition, location etc., we will happily set up a showing as long as the seller is willing. We will meet you at the property and participate in your viewing of the home while maintaining the required social distancing. It is protocol now to avoid touching any surfaces in the seller’s home and we will ask them to turn on all lights, open all interior doors and blinds to assist with that.
If you choose to move forward we can facilitate the creation, review, presentation and negotiation of an offer via email, phone, text, video conferencing. Earnest money can be wired. Inspections can still be done and so can appraisals. Even closings can be done via overnight mail or curbside service by the title company. (we will be in the car next to yours if you choose that 😊 )
In essence, we are here to provide a complete and thorough purchase/ sale service using technology and common sense practices.
It is an honor to do what we can to keep as much normalcy and stability as possible for our friends, clients and the housing market.