You won't see many signs for open houses these days. So realtors are getting creative with the way they're showing homes in the time of COVID-19.
"It's kind of on a seller-by-seller basis," said Realtor Kayla Dalton with Dickson Realty. "We're not doing any overlapping showings or anything like that. So it's only an agent and one client in a house oat a time, or we're doing virtual tours or walkthroughs with FaceTime, so we're limiting the amount of people in houses at any given moment."
She's doing a lot of work from homes these days, connecting with clients remotely.
"We are still showing properties, we're still taking listings," Dalton said. "Title companies are open and they're adapting and adjusting to the situation as well. They're taking all signing appointments mobile, so you're not physically going to a title company, you're probably doing it in your house with a mobile notary. I'm FaceTiming my clients at that point or jumping on a phone call just to make sure they don't have any questions as they're going through all the documentation, and then the Recorder's Office is still open, their back office."
She says it's too early to tell exactly what the effects on the local housing market might be.
"A lot of people are using the word recession, but recession doesn't mean housing crisis," Dalton said. "The majority of our recessions that we have experienced, housing prices have actually appreciated - 2008 obviously being the exception to that because the housing market was at the epicenter of that recession. With this, that's not the case."
She says the current situation could give inventory a chance to catch up with demand.
"Right now it's just making our market more healthy, more level for buyers and sellers," Dalton said. "Because we've been in a super strong sellers market for so long. I don't think that at the end of this we'll be in a buyers market, or it'll be completely level, but it will level the playing field more than it was previously."
