Maybe you’ve currently got your home on the market, or you were thinking about listing it for sale soon, and because of coronavirus you’re now feeling overwhelmed, and uncertain about what you should do (like all of us)! As the media keeps saying; we are in uncharted territory, and unprecedented times.
So today I’ve answered the top six coronavirus fears from most sellers, to help you decide what’s best for your situation, and hopefully help you feel less uncertain and overwhelmed going forward.
1.WILL CORONAVIRUS AFFECT MY SALE PRICE… WILL I NEED TO SELL MY HOME FOR LESS?
No, because we’re going to have a housing shortage, and buyers are going to be competing for less properties.
I know this sounds strange, especially with everything that’s going on in the world at the moment, and if you watch the news and the share market and it’s a 24 hour cycle and they’re all talking about things crashing, and then going back up, and then crashing again.
Real estate is completely different.
If you look at history, every time there’s been big crashes in the share market, money is then transferred over into the property market – and house prices have boomed afterwards.
2020 is going to be no different.
The other main reason is that share market ‘declines’ and ‘rises’ happen instantly. So, you take money out and put money in straight away. Whereas the housing market has a lag time of 3-6 months.
So realistically, we’re not going to see any sort of change in prices for another 6-12 months, and by that time we hope are that we will be through all of this.
Nothing is 100% certain, but we can only look at history
2.aRE THERE STILL SERIOUS BUYERS IN THE PERTH MARKET?
The answer to this, is YES.
People’s desire to have a family home has not changed.
And in fact, the silver lining of coronavirus is that only serious people asking about buying homes no longer seeing ‘time wasters’ sending through enquiries, or attending private inspections. All our enquiries have been from people who are interested, and ready-to-buy.
These are people who have recently sold, or their home has just gone under offer, or they’re after a bigger family home because they have another baby on the way, or they’re sick of living on a small block and they would like something bigger in the city, and they’re looking to purchase a home now.
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5.aRE BUYERS STILL SHOWING UP TO viewings?
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Yes, buyers are still showing up and asking for private viewings.
Due to the Government requirements we can’t do home opens anymore, but we can still show buyers through your home privately, one person at a time.
6.wILL I CATCH CORONAVIRUS IF I ALLOW PRIVATE INSPECTIONS?
I’m no doctor, but we do have strict precautions in place to stop this from happening to you, your family, the buyer, and/or our staff, in line with the requirements from the Department of Health.
To start with, our agents are only taking one person through at a time.
Before we book anyone in for a private viewing we ask them if they are unwell (or have been unwell in the past 14 days), have travelled overseas, or been in contact with anyone who has travelled oversea or interstate in the last 14 days.
Before entering the home we get attendees to sanitize their hands with anti-bacterial sanitizer, and ask that they walk through the home with their hands in their pockets and refrain from touching any surfaces. We’ve already opened all the doors (using disposable gloves) prior to the inspection so there’s no need for them to touch anything. They can just have a wander through with the agent to see if they like the home – and then once they’re done we can have a chat about it.
Once the viewing is over, we go through to close all doors and windows, giving door handles and light switches a wipe as we leave the home
7.sHOULD I WAIT UNTIL CORONAVIRUS IS OVER TO LIST MY HOME FOR SALE?
The answer to that depends entirely on your own circumstances.
If you need to sell now, go forward confidently and do it. Provided the marketing is spot on, and you have a professional video of your home you shouldn’t have any trouble.
But it’s the same with any market…
If you overprice it, you’re going to have trouble selling it.
By the same token, I’m not telling you to underprice your home either.
Use up to date, sales statistics to get your pricing right, your marketing right, and the sale will happen – it does in any sort of market.
And remember what I spoke about earlier in question #1 – there’s going to be a housing shortage.
This means buyers will have to compete for less homes, and will protect your selling price.
8.sHOULD I TAKE MY HOME OFF THE MARKET, AND THEN RE-LIST IT ONCE CORONAVIRUS IS OVER?
Currently – and we are in a changing world, day by day – my answer is no.
Because, like I touched on earlier, the ‘time-wasters’ have disappeared, and we are only hearing from genuine buyers who are in a strong position to purchase.
If you take your home off the market now, you will miss out on the opportunity to sell your home to them.
We’ve been working with lots of these buyers for several months – sometimes over a year People take their purchasing decisions seriously.
They take their time…
