Should I sell or buy a home in Calgary during COVID-19?
First off, we hope everyone is healthy, safe and taking advantage of this pause on life to spend some quality time with their loved ones. It has been an unprecedented past few weeks as our world faces historic challenges with the growing COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic.
We understand how stressful of a time this can be and understand that our clients may still need to sell or buy during this pandemic. Jesse Davies and his team are prepared to help our clients stay safe and will continue to help you achieve your real estate goals. Now more than ever we expect Buyers and Sellers to rely on the experience of their Calgary Realtor. According to the Alberta Government, Realtors in Calgary are considered essential services so we will practise and implement measures to minimize the risk to our clients. We will implement social distancing best practices laid out by the Alberta Government and will do everything we can to offer our knowledge and support to help you navigate through this unprecedented time. With that in mind, land registration services, real estate agent services, legal services and moving services were noted as essential services during this pandemic and this means that if you need to sell or purchase in the coming days, weeks or months you can do that. Our business partners are all prepared for this pandemic and are taking the necessary steps to ensure our clients are safe when navigating through the sale or purchase of a Calgary Home or Calgary Condo.
Over the past week, we have received numerous calls and emails from our clients inquiring about how we can help navigate a sale and help them reach their real estate needs.
- As many meetings as possible conducted via video technology or phone calls.
- Using Digital Signature platforms for contracts.
- Traveling in separate cars to showings.
- Virtual showings when possible through 3D tours and live video tours to help narrow down buyers’ top choices before viewing. Some buyers are choosing to wait to view the home after they have negotiated a deal. We do this by writing a condition to view the home.
- Washing and sanitizing our hands before, during and after showings. Wearing rubber gloves and asking sellers to leave all lights and most doors open so minimal touching occurs.
- Asking sellers’ agents to disclose if their clients or anyone in the home has traveled in the last two weeks, has the virus or shown any symptoms of the virus.
- Maintaining six feet of distance between us, clients and any other people when human interaction is absolutely necessary.
- As many meetings as possible conducted via video technology or phone.
- Utilizing technology, HDR photos, virtual 3D tours and social media to market our listings.
- Maintaining six feet of distance between us, clients and any other people when human interaction is absolutely necessary
- Asking all buyers’ agents to disclose if buyers have traveled in last two weeks or are showing any symptoms of the virus along with been in contact with anyone who has the virus. If the answer is yes to the above, they will be denied access and asked to book a showing in 2 weeks’ time or when the answers become no.
As of April 26th, 2020 Calgary Real Estate Market Snapshot
As you can see Total sales for April are down 65.07% from this time last year, new listings are down 58.67% and total active listings are down 20.68% while the average price is down 8.55%.
This is a sign both buyers and sellers are putting their selling and buying plans on hold due to the risk of entering another home or having others enter their home.
We will continue to monitor and adhere to guidelines set forth by our local and national governments, as well as leading real estate industry authorities.
Below is a snapshot of the showing activity in the Alberta Real Estate market: As you can see as of April 26th the showing activity for the week is down 20.7% from this time last year. Up from the 48% decrease on April 05th.
This is a positive sign in the real estate market as the general public becomes more aware of safety protocols real estate agents and their client are taking and the reality that Covid-19 will be with us for the foreseeable future.
We are here to assist you in every way possible and are committed to providing you with the utmost service and guidance moving forward.
On behalf of The Top Calgary Real Estate Team at Century 21 Elevate Real Estate, we send our love, prayers, and best wishes for the health of you, your loved ones and all Canadians.
We will get through this!
