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Selling Your Orlando Home During the COVID-19 Crisis

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Let’s face it, COVID-19 has turned the world on its head. Lockdown has led to a number of restrictions, mainly concerning how we come into contact with other people. This has affected pretty much every business and the real estate sector is no different.

But don’t despair! It is still possible to sell your house. In fact, with everyone sat at home twiddling their thumbs, people are looking for change of scenery. What’s more, as less people are taking the risk travelling abroad on expensive holidays, right now some people are looking for other ways to spend their savings.

That said, here follows some tips and guidance on how to safely sell your home during the pandemic.

Patience

Firstly, it is important to take stock and realize there are much more important things happening right now. You should not heap pressure on yourself to complete the selling of your home. Your safety and the safety of others is more important. It is also worth remembering that some people involved in the selling process may be working from home and may have challenging work-life balances (e.g. caring responsibilities). The process of selling your home is inevitably going to take longer during the pandemic. It is important to manage your expectations around when you can expect to complete.

SAFE HOME VIEWINGS

Unfortunately, the pandemic has made open houses a thing of the past. Previously, open houses were a great way of drumming up lots of interest and creating a little friendly competition among potential buyers. But due to lockdown measures, it is unlawful and irresponsible to have so many people migrating in and out of someone’s home.

However, home viewings are still possible, but they have to be managed properly. Viewers are required to bring their own PPE and the estate agent will make sure to schedule the bookings in accordance with the wishes of the tenant, as it is the tenant who is bearing the risk of inviting people into their home. Usually, this entails arranging the viewings back-to-back on a single day, so that the tenant can deep clean before and afterwards. As you can imagine, this will inevitably lead to delays in booking in viewings.

Video Tours

A clever new development that is proving increasingly popular when it comes to selling your home during these uncertain times is the use of video tours. With the help of your estate agents, you can arrange the recording of a virtual tour of your home that will then be put up on the estate agents website. This is an ideal way of weeding out any time wasters. Only interested parties who have already watched the virtual tour will be admitted for in-person viewings.

When it comes to taking a video of your home, the estate agent should record it for you. However, there may be an option to do it yourself. If you are uncertain of what is required of one of these videos, it is a good idea to leave it to the professionals.

Thanks to the quality of smart phone cameras, in most cases it is acceptable for the video to be taken by phone. When taking the video, it is imperative that your house is spotless and tidy. You do not want anything obstructing the path that the cameraman will walk through your house. You want the rooms and walkways looking as spacious as possible. Essentially, this is your opportunity to make it look like a model home. It is the online equivalent of an open house. So make sure to give your house a good going over before recording takes place.

Conclusion

So as you can see, the pandemic has shifted things dramatically, but it is still possible to sell your home. Thanks to sophisticated ideas like video tours, and the fact that people are desperate for a change of scenery during lockdown, you have a very good chance of finding a buyer.