How To: Sell Houses During a Pandemic
What it is like to be a realtor during the coronavirus pandemic in Montclair, New Jersey
As a kid, I never fully understood what it meant when my mom, Deb Dillingham, spoke about real estate. I knew she sold houses, but I didn’t understand the hard work and many steps involved.
The process is even more complicated now because of COVID-19. Regulators have altered the marketing process for agents — no more open houses — and the way agents can conduct showings — masks and gloves on at all times and one showing at a time.
These are new challenges on top of the already stressful process of making a sale on what is the largest investment most people make in their lifetimes. I was able to see how my mom navigates the “new normal” of selling homes during COVID.
Because my town, Montclair, New Jersey, is right outside of New York City, with great transportation into the city, a cool downtown and solid schools, it has been a highly sought after town for city dwellers wanting to get out of the hub of the pandemic.
Unlike many who found their careers at a standstill during the pandemic, my mom has had an increase in work rather than a decrease, due to the number of buyers contacting her to find homes. According to her, she can get two or three calls a day from buyers who are referred to my mom via the internet or word of mouth.
Her new protocol is to immediately send these new buyers a form for every home she will be taking them to. This legally protects agents, buyers and sellers from imposing blame if someone were to contract COVID during their search.
She must also inform them that they must wear protective gear when meeting up and entering the house. Since it is safer for only one showing to happen at a time, appointments to show homes fill up quickly, so my mom has to act fast to get her clients into the homes they want to see.
In the past, she would send a client to a public open house and then return with them to take a second look if they liked it for further inspection.
In today’s market, with high demand for homes, the showing slots fill up quickly. And within several days of showings, the agents ask that all offers be submitted.
Since the showing process is so altered now when looking for houses, the time a buyer has to consider their purchase is more condensed. Once a buyer has had their offer accepted, the same precautions and processes affect inspections, appraisers and moving companies.
Everyone must wear masks, gloves, even shoe coverings. Real estate closings no longer happen around the conference desk at an attorney’s office but in the parking lot of the title company’s office while sitting in one’s car.
What’s been eye opening to me is not just the many responsibilities my mom has as a real estate agent, but all of the adaptations she’s having to make to continue doing her job and serving her clients.
