Real estate is STILL happening. People STILL want to buy and sell. Yet we need to take certain precautions to keep the market and consumers healthy.
This means Realtors and others involved with real estate need to think outside the box. Luckily, we have a number of tools at our disposal to help navigate this tricky time.
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve seen an uptick in virtual showings, in which an agent arranges a time to video chat with a client and perform a walkthrough of a property, stopping to point out the various features. This is a great way to minimize the risk of meeting with many people face to face.
These are certainly unprecedented times. Even so, people still need a place to live. People are still being relocated to our area and need a home. In the meantime, it’s imperative that Realtors continue to work with their clients to assist them in their homebuying needs.
This week, we wrote our elected officials asking that they declare real estate services to be an “essential business” to the economy. The ability to close real estate transactions includes certain requirements and deadlines, and the impact, both on the lives and finances of property owners, is substantial and can be avoided if essential services are allowed to continue.
Our association is asking that real estate services be included as an important and essential part of our local workforce and that buyers and sellers who have made all of the logistical and financial preparations to move into their new homes be allowed to do so.
In fact, to further diminish the risk of COVID-19, our board of directors and MLS committee are strongly discouraging in-person open houses during this time of social distancing. We are discussing with our clients other methods and technologies to market properties and precautions to help keep our local market, as well as you and your clients, healthy.
We couldn’t say it better than the National Association of Realtors, which says, “Consider how you (Realtor members) may continue providing first-class services to clients while also exemplifying Realtors as community leaders by demonstrating care for the health and well-being of clients, colleagues and the greater public in reducing the risk of exposure to, and spread of, COVID-19.”
We must take precautions to keep not only ourselves but also those we love and work with safe. So, if you’re looking to buy or sell your home, do it. Reach out to us. We can make arrangements to help you secure that property, even in uncertain times.
Check www.gcar.net/covid-19 for updates and additional resources. We work to find solutions for our clients and community. That’s Who We R.
Greater Chattanooga Realtors is The Voice of Real Estate in Greater Chattanooga. A regional organization with more than 2,000 members, Greater Chattanooga Realtors is one of some 1,300 local boards and associations of Realtors nationwide that comprise the National Association of Realtors. Greater Chattanooga Realtors service Hamilton and Sequatchie counties in southeast Tennessee and Catoosa, Dade and Walker counties in northwest Georgia. For more information, visit www.gcar.net or call 423 698-8001.