When Covid-19 lockdowns started to take affect in March 2020, the real estate market had to quickly make adjustments. Virtually every business outside of grocery stores were at least temporarily forced to close.
Fortunately, real estate was deemed an essential business. And so I have been out and about since the beginning of the Covid-19 threat.
And while there have been adjustments in how the real estate world conducts business, the essence of real estate has not changed.
Yes, wearing masks, shoe coverings, and gloves has become common place.
For a period, open houses stopped…Only to restart with a limited number of people allowed in the house at a time. But people still showed up. And with limited inventory, in the red hot areas, there were waiting lines to get into the homes.
So for all the hype about virtual tours and virtual home buying on the news, the reality says that’s not how people really want to buy homes.
There are so many factors, some hidden, in buying a home already. Buying a home based on what you see in pictures, videos, or a live tour adds a lot of risk…Especially for a primary residence.
As the video at the top of this blog post explained, real estate pictures are enhanced more than ever. It’s not uncommon to walk into a home you saw on the internet, only to find the pictures were better than the reality.
Surprises are great for a birthday, or any time they are a guaranteed positive.
But when it comes to real estate, surprises are rarely a good thing. Even with an inspection, there can be leaks behind walls the current home owner doesn’t even know about.
So the last thing you want to do is be surprised by how a home looks after you’ve already purchased it — and surprised by some obvious problems the pictures and videos didn’t pick up.
But if buying virtually is your only option, don’t fear. I have a process to help the transaction not only go smoothly, but give the best chance for you to enjoy the property when you actually see it.
We’ll talk about that in the next blog post…Stay tuned.
