How COVID has changed real estate

How-COVID-has-changed-real-estate

Earlier this year, the spring real estate market was off to a fast and furious start. Then the COVID-19 pandemic came along. The world came to a halt. Country by country, and here in Minnesota, stay-at-home or shelter-in-place mandates came to be. By April it felt like most of the world had either stopped or altered dramatically. How has COVID changed the real estate business?

Real estate transactions were deemed an essential service, so it was business as usual for our incredible award-winning real estate team. We had showings, property inspections, and successful closings. In fact, the Jarrod Peterson Real Estate Group of Edina Realty is having a record year, which is amazing considering the uncertainty at the beginning of the busy spring market season. Record low interest rates are keeping buyers motivated to enter the market and secure a property. Top dollar housing values are fueling sellers’ motivation for making the change they desire.

We have made some changes to help keep both our home buyers and sellers safe. Edina Realty was the first brokerage to enact safety protocols for the industry and continues to lead the efforts of safety in the region. “The safety of our clients and team is the number one priority for our organization,” said Jarrod Peterson, CEO of the Jarrod Peterson Real Estate Group.

Below we highlight some of the changes we have made to maintain our superior standard of service and help everyone stay safe.

How We are Keeping Clients Safe

Keeping Our Sellers Safe

We are keeping our sellers safe by instituting the following changes for showings:

  • Only one buying party may be in the home at a time.
  • Only decision-making buyers are allowed in the home.
  • No overlapping showings can be scheduled.
  • Scheduled showing timeframes have been reduced. Most showings are 30-45 minutes currently.
  • Sellers are keeping doors and closets open for buyers to view without contact.
  • Implementing 3D tours for video walkthroughs of the properties eliminates non-serious buyers.

How We are Keeping Buyers Safe

Buyers are an important part of the real estate transaction and of course they want to see the properties they are most interested in.

We are keeping our buyers safe as well:

  • Buyers will drive separately to showings.
  • Buyers will wear gloves during showings.
  • Buyers will use hand sanitizer when entering and leaving a property.
  • Only minimal touch/feel of a property is allowed.

Many buyers are not seeing the property before they make an offer. In fact, our team has sold five properties during this pandemic to buyers who never saw the property prior to their final walkthrough or closing on it.

“Jarrod and his team were the best,” said recent clients Dave and Diane Miller about Edina Realty’s safety protocols. “They coached us to have the right safety measures in place, and provided us with hand sanitizer, gloves, masks, and other materials to ensure the buyers were using safe practices. We are so glad we sold and purchased with them during this time.”

Work with the Jarrod Peterson Real Estate Group

Although COVID-19 has changed many things about our everyday lives, don’t let it scare you from finding your next dream home. The Jarrod Peterson Real Estate Group can help ease your nerves as we walk you through every step of the process in the safest way possible.

Our team has helped over 1,260 home buyers/sellers/investors and received over 74 local and national industry awards for our client sales and service. Whether this is your first or fourth homebuying experience, we’re all in! Contact our team today.