Showing your home to strangers can be a bit unnerving in the best of times. But when a serious disease is circulating, you may be worried about letting home shoppers walk through your house. Here’s how to protect yourself, your family and potential buyers when you’re selling a home during the coronavirus pandemic.
Keeping your family safe
- Whenever possible, arrange virtual showings of your home. With today’s technology, agents can show your home without actually opening its doors.
- Ask agents not to show your home in person if either they or their clients have symptoms associated with coronavirus, have been exposed to the virus or have recently traveled internationally.
- Provide hand sanitizer at your home’s entry and in other areas where potential buyers might be tempted to touch surfaces.
- Provide booties for buyers to wear over their shoes.
- Clean your home thoroughly after each showing, paying particular attention to light switches, doorknobs, banisters, faucet handles and any surfaces visitors may have touched.
- Whenever possible, meet with your agent or attorney using Slack, Zoom, Skype or FaceTime.
Keeping potential buyers safe
- If you’re selling a home during the coronavirus pandemic, don’t allow potential buyers inside if you or a family member has symptoms associated with coronavirus, has been exposed to the disease or has recently traveled internationally.
- It’s best to avoid open houses when selling a home during the coronavirus pandemic. If you have one, clean and disinfect your home beforehand. Limit the number of potential buyers in the home at any one time so that they can stand at least six feet apart. Between visitors, reclean areas buyers might have touched.
- If potential buyers will be entering your home for individual showings, clean it scrupulously beforehand. Pay particular attention to surfaces these visitors might touch.
- Provide hand sanitizer at your house’s entry and in other easily accessible places.
- Before showings, leave open any doors, drawers or cabinet doors that home shoppers might be tempted to open.
Related – Top-Quality Photos and Virtual Tours Are Key in Today’s Market
