Illustration by James Callahan
By the second week of March, my clients had started asking what COVID-19 was going to mean for the real estate market, and while I could offer my thoughts and opinions about what might happen moving forward, I was careful to remind them that they were exactly that — thoughts and opinions. Because honestly? I had never sold real estate in a global pandemic before. We were all headed into uncharted territory together.
Our brokerage canceled open houses from that weekend forward. It was a tough call to make at the beginning of the spring market, but it was the ethical thing to do. I had some hard conversations with my clients who were preparing to list their homes. One couple in Church Hill told me they’d both be working full time from home, effective immediately. They decided to hold off on listing. Another couple had been busy through the winter getting their home in top condition for spring. We decided to try and outrun the storm and sell as quickly as we could. We settled on a compelling price to keep it from lingering, got it on the MLS with gorgeous pictures and a virtual tour, and they relocated for the weekend. In three days, we had 80 showings and 19 offers. Now it seems like a different world when buyers were still moving in and out of homes that casually.
We’ve always done FaceTime showings for out-of-town buyers and in situations when it’s not possible for the buyer to see the house in person, but now virtual showings are the rule rather than the exception. If there’s a virtual tour online, we try to do a phone call or videoconference as we “walk” through the house with our clients, to decide whether to see it in person. And we ask buyers to do a drive-by viewing of the house prior to scheduling access. Buyers are seeing far fewer homes in person, just their top choices. At showings, we request they wear masks and shoe covers and touch nothing in the home. And now more than ever, we’re requiring buyers to have their mortgage paperwork in order before they look. There’s discussion about a lot of the new policies being permanent, which may not be a bad thing.
We’ve had some lively (OK, heated) discussions in Realtor circles about at what point the duty to stay at home outweighs the duty to serve our clients. I feel I need to represent my clients as wholeheartedly and as mindfully as I can without sacrificing safety. What that means to me is having the conversation about whether now is the best time to buy or sell, or if it can wait. One thing that we’ve all had to look at, not just in real estate, is being honest about wants versus needs, but moving can’t always wait.
Every day you hope that nobody will get furloughed at the last minute, that the people whose money is in investment portfolios will be able to fund, and that the title company will be open for business, and the courts will be open to record the deed on closing day. We’ve added a new addendum to our contracts, addressing how to proceed — or not proceed — if any of the parties to the contract are quarantined at the scheduled time of closing. Lenders call regularly with alarming updates about interest rates and changes to credit scores and down-payment requirements. They have horror stories about loans being denied at the closing table. It’s starting to level out as we adapt, but for a while, every closing felt like rolling the end credits on a suspense thriller. Which is great at the movies but not so much when it’s your home — or your client’s — at stake.
Anne Thomas Soffee is a Realtor with Small & Associates. She is also the author of two books, “Nёrd Girl Rocks Paradise City: A True Story of Faking It in Hair Metal L.A.” and “Snake Hips: Belly Dancing and How I Found True Love,” and she was a Richmond magazine columnist from 2009 to 2014.