Although the speed and volume of house sales has increased over the last few months, there is still a little confusion as to how to manage house viewings during lockdown.
As a result, many of our clients still ask us how best to manage house viewings during lockdown. With that in mind, we thought it may be useful to recap what you will need to do to make sure your house can be viewed safely while it’s on the market.
The good news is estate agents were quick to change their procedures at the start of the first lockdown, putting their buyers’ safety first so the housing market could stay open.
Part of this change was made possible by technology. Virtual and online 3-D viewings were quickly made available. This allowed people to have a first viewing from the comfort of their own homes before committing to a ‘physical’ viewing. This additional step played an important part in reducing the number of physical viewings which in turn helped reduce the spread of COVID.
However, if the decision was taken to visit a property in person in the strength of a virtual tour, the government insists you take the following precautions:
In addition, you will need to be prepared for cancellations and to offer greater flexibility to potential buyers. While cancellations, postponements and time changes aren’t ideal, they may be necessary if there is a change in infection rates.
Similarly, with the changes to school opening you may also need to offer more weekend or evening slots should buyers have additional childcare or home-schooling responsibilities. Again, this is probably not your first choice but your willingness to adapt will pay off in terms of generating goodwill with your buyers.
If you are planning to move house and would like to discuss anything else relating to the sale of your current house or the purchase of your new home, please email me at Jeremy.Tulloch@collinshoy.com or call me on 0208 515 6600.