The coronavirus has affected our day-to-day lives, and the real estate industry has shifted with the changes. In recent weeks, we’ve seen adjustments in the selling process, property presentation, and safety measures for people and homes. The Budwig Team is taking extensive measures to ensure the safety of our clients and our clients’ properties during these unprecedented times.

Preparing Your Home For Sale

We use high-end professional photography—including drone aerial shots—to build a marketing campaign around our clients’ homes. Statistics show that home buyers begin their search online, so photographic presentation of a property impacts the success and timeline of its sale. Photographs remain important, but Budwig Team take it a step further. Social distancing recommendations have inspired us to elevate the intimacy and detail of our viewings. We will use two platforms to ensure safe and private showings:

1) A 100% custom video tour showcases the details and top features of your home. Your agent is present in the video, but your home is the centerpiece. We distribute this video to Budwig Team’s large email database and share on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and local agent forums. The Budwig team has built a network of buyers over our combined years in the industry, and we’ll make sure the video gets in front of them as well. These videos are great, and they work!

2) If you’ve never seen a Matterport virtual walk-thru video, you’re missing out. Through our partners, we give buyers an opportunity to sit at their computer, click on a specific room in the house, and move around that room like they’re physically walking through it. Gone are the chunky goggles of the past, with Matterport buyers can look up, down, left, right and navigate the home with ease.

Our four to eight-page full property brochures, custom landing pages, prominent “For Sale” signs, and extensive use of technology gives potential buyers safe and substantial access to your home.

Showings

Once we are live on MLS—and have our listing strategy in order—it’s time to show the home. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted this element of the real estate process. Traditionally, this portion of the process is what agents enjoy the most, it’s why we got into real estate. We love interacting with people, showing off our clients’ properties, and negotiating a deal that is not only reasonable and fair for both parties, but meets or exceeds our clients goals no matter which side of the transaction we are on. A realtor’s role is now more important than ever. People are using their homes as safe havens to protect their families from the virus. In real estate, if you want to sell, generally, you must let the public in. We have developed a social distancing home showing process that ensures the safety of buyers and sellers. Here are the steps we be taking to show safely:

  1. Screening the buyers: New NAR guidelines state that the realtor may ask potential buyers if they are experiencing any symptoms, or if they, or anyone they know, has traveled in the last 14 days. We can also ask if the buyer is prepared to take off their shoes or wear protective shoe covering during the showing.
  2. Once the buyers arrive, we ensure they remove their shoes or wear protective shoe coverings. Your Budwig Team realtor will open all doors in the home and will ask that the potential buyer not touch any doorknobs or hard surfaces. We will limit showings to one group at a time.
  3. The listing agent will request questions be asked at a separate time to ensure that the agent and buyers are not lingering in the property for an extended period of time. Further communication may take place via phone, text and/or FaceTime.
  4. Once the visitors have left, Budwig Team is asking our sellers to provide us with their preferred cleaning solution. We will turn off lights and wipe down doorknobs and hard surfaces that may have been touched during the showing. We will then lock the home, ensuring it is now safe for the sellers to return. We will ask that the sellers leave for showings, although they are welcome to hangout in their car within sight of the property. The fewer people in one space, the better.

Once we have shown—and secured the home—we can then go back to a traditional portion of our selling process; follow up and offer review.

The Offer

Now that we have successfully shown the home and received offers, your agent is happy to review all offers over the phone, ZOOM video conference, FaceTime, or in person at a safe distance. Once an offer has been reviewed, negotiations can begin.

The Negotiation

Purchase Contract negotiations are typically done through email and a series of phone calls. Once all participants agree on a fair deal, and sign through eSign, our contract is electronically executed.

Escrow

In Arizona, real estate transactions are done through escrow/title companies. On March 23, 2020, Governor Doug Ducey deemed title companies, law firms, and real estate agents “Essential Businesses.” For the community’s safety, the way we function and communicate in our industry is changing, and this is no different for a title company. The doors are locked, but the teams at our local title companies are still working. They allow critical access to their facility to buyers and sellers when they sign closing paperwork. The title companies have rolled out their own “Best Practices,” and we diligently work alongside them to ensure successful escrow.

Another great option are mobile notaries, who will come to private settings to facilitate the transaction.

Home Inspection

A licensed and certified home inspector will access the home on behalf of the buyer during the inspection period. The sellers will be asked to vacate the property for their safety and will limit the number of people attending the Inspection Summary. Again, most of the communication about the home, condition of home, and any concerns the buyer may have will be addressed over the phone or via email.

Home Appraisal

If there is a loan being obtained for the property, the home will need to be appraised. A licensed home appraiser will schedule a time to enter the home to measure and review the property for condition and features. We will meet the appraiser at the property but will again ask the sellers to leave during this visit to ensure everyone’s safety. Once the home appraiser has left, we will contact the seller and tell them to come back to their home. Again, we will wipe down any items that may have been touched during the showing.

Final Walk-thru

Just a few days before we close on the home, the buyers will conduct their final walk-through. This walk-through ensures that any fixes or corrections the seller agreed to are complete. The buyer can review the property and make sure it is in the same condition as when they first saw the home. We check that all keys, garage openers and manuals for the equipment staying with the home are present.

Closing

Once we have completed the entire selling process, the final step is to record and close on the property. The escrow/title company can do this electronically and we will receive an email confirmation that the home has “officially closed.” Funds are wired to the sellers account and keys are safely provided to the buyer through the buyer’s agent.

Review

The coronavirus pandemic has given us all a new perspective on life. The safety of our family, friends, and neighbors has never been more important. We are fortunate to be part of one of the most stable markets here in Arizona, but we know we can’t take that for granted. We have proudly served our friends, family, clients, and our Arizona communities for many years, and we look forward to continuing to do so for many more. Stay safe and take care of one another!

– Budwig Team