COVID-19 and your property questions answered

If you are in the process of putting your home on the market, you will no doubt be wondering what COVID-19 means for your home sale. Here are some common questions we are hearing right now. Please get in touch if you have more.

Can I still sell my house? 

Yes. Homes continue to go on the market, but while restrictions are in place real estate agents will be leveraging more online tools to promote your property. If you are ready to sell your home, you can still do so. 

Is now a good time to prepare my home for sale? 

Absolutely. Getting your home ready for sale can be a surprisingly long-winded process, from decluttering and donating to cleaning, repainting and carrying out light renovations. 

While you are spending more time in your home, use the time to start going through your belongings. Make note of what work you can do yourself, and what you’ll need to have done professionally. Many people are keeping busy by painting, gardening and doing long-overdue household chores. 

By using this time you can look forward to a smoother, less stressful selling period. And as an added benefit, keeping busy and planning for the future are both great for your wellbeing at a stressful time. 

How do I show people my home?

Most people these days start their property searches online, so in this respect, you will still be able to communicate to potential buyers about your home. 

Photography and stylists are still able to work; however, you and visitors to your home will need to practice social distancing, wear masks (if available), and practice regular hand washing.

How do buyers inspect a property if there’s no open home? 

Open homes and on-site auctions were restricted by the federal government on the basis that they attracted crowds. Even though these restrictions have now been lifted, some sellers, buyers and renters are still cautious about the number of properties they inspect in person. 

Remember, it is still possible to conduct private inspections on a one-to-one basis and sell homes via online auctions – in conjunction with group viewings and on-site auctions. 

We’re still finding plenty of interest from buyers so we’ve adopted the practice of recording property walk-through videos using mobile technologies. We share these with interested parties directly. 

We’re also able to ascertain each person’s circumstances and provide interested parties with a physical viewing of the property as and when it is clear that they are in a financial position to purchase. 

Providing extensive information in the form of photographs, including pre-recorded videos by videographers and virtual inspections filmed on smartphones means that there are plenty of ways for homebuyers to interact with your property.

Can properties still be sold at auction?

Online auction sites were around long before COVID-19 arrived, enabling our real estate agency to provide an easy solution for sellers keen to go ahead with a property sale by auction.

When you think about it, major auction houses like Sotheby’s have used online and phone bidding for decades. So services such as online auction site Gavl in Australia or online auction site Proppy in New Zealand have been able to respond quickly to lockdown measures with some updated options for sellers. 

Many online auction platforms include online auctions that can be live-streamed for you. But if an auction is not for you, they can assist with online bidding for private treaty offers.

When you receive an offer, there are multiple electronic signatory tools to help facilitate the digital signing of sales contracts as well. 

Our agency can help streamline the home sale process digitally and, of course, liaise with individual buyers via phone or webinar to develop relationships and negotiate favourable sales deals on your behalf.

Are people still buying homes? 

Yes. People will always need to put their home on the market and, with interest rates at record lows, it’s a great time to buy. 

There are many reasons why people need to sell. These include separation, divorce, to be closer to family or for work reasons. Some might be looking for a sea or tree change, be downsizing to save money or be moving for work or study. So as you can see, there remains plenty of reasons behind people continuing to buy and sell property. 

While there might be a slight short-term dip in listings, this also means less competition, which is an excellent opportunity for motivated sellers. 

Can I rent my property? How will you find tenants? 

Yes. We can list your property for rent and start taking calls and managing viewings much in the same way as we described selling a home above. Viewings for potential tenants can be conducted in virtual form or arranged as a private one-to-one inspection with a property manager. 

However, be aware that at present both the market and rules for rental properties are changing rapidly, so please give us a call if you have a property for which you need to find a tenant, and we will update you on the latest guidelines and how these will affect you.