Welcome to the start of the home buying season! You’ve just listed your home for sale, or you’re shopping for a home and bang!  You turn around and you’re in the middle of a pandemic!

What to do? Do you postpone your search or take your home off the market? Depending on your circumstances that might not be necessary or an option. Here at Steele Group Realty, we will continue to provide support to our clients and community through this trying time.

With that in mind, here are a few safety tips* to help you avoid infection or infecting others, extrapolated from the CDC recommendations to fit the world of real estate and the home shopping/selling experience.

1. If you are sick, or someone in your immediate household is sick, stay home or do not show your home.  That goes for buyers, sellers and agents alike.
2. Agents, when setting an appointment make sure there is no one sick in the home you will be showing.
3. Do not ride with your agent. Take separate cars to the home you are viewing and do not shake hands when you meet.
4. Wear gloves. Really. Whether you are an agent or buyer, every person entering should wear gloves. When viewing a home you are touching a key box, door knobs, cabinets, counters and other surfaces. Dispose of gloves in a trash bag and do not wear the same pair to the next home. Agents and/or sellers, it would be thoughtful to provide gloves. Wash your hands or use a sanitizer when finished at one home.
5. Maintain a distance of 6 ft from one another while viewing the home.
6. No open houses. Do not attend, host or hold your home open.
7. Sellers, when the viewing is over, sanitize the counters, doorknobs, etc., according to the noted CDC guidelines, especially if gloves were not worn.

Spring is traditionally a great time to buy and sell.  Let’s just take a few extra steps to keep it safe for everyone.

* I am not a healthcare provider or public health official so the tips provided are simply suggestions based on the CDC guidelines and my personal experience as a Realtor. These tips were reviewed by a healthcare professional but are not intended as medical advice. Anyone with questions or concerns should contact their healthcare provider