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Original Post: April 15, 2020
Real estate in Illinois, during the COVID-19 crisis, is an essential service. In March 2020, Governor Pritzker initiated and, then, extended a stay-at-home order through April 30th in an effort to interrupt the exponential curve of COVID-19 contagion in the State. One cannot “stay at home” if one does not have a home. Fortunately, over the past two decades, real estate has taken advantage of increasing access to internet and digital capabilities; and, among brokerage companies, Coldwell Banker is the most digitally integrated. Virtually all services can be delivered electronically: comparative market analyses for sellers; property searches for buyers; tours by slide show, video or FaceTime; mortgages, appraisals and title; and contracts and closings with electronic signatures, including online notary services. The one caveat to the ease of a fully electronic transfer of property is the increased risk of cyber hacking and fraud, Clients beware: Check and confirm the source and destination address of all monetary and confidential transfers with a known person at a known telephone number.
It is the personable elements of real estate which are among the most enjoyable for me but also those most restricted and challenged in the COVID-19 environment: establishing a trusting fiduciary relationship with my client, working with an interior designer or stager in preparing a property for market or a professional photographer during a photo shoot, welcoming visitors to an open house, touring properties with buyers and accompanying them on an inspection.
My Spring 2020 pipeline of listings holds an interesting and diverse set of properties: a Lake Shore Drive condominium with breathtaking views of Lake Michigan and Chicago’s shoreline; an architecturally significant Mediterranean-style home in the Ridge Historic District of Evanston; a traditional two-story home in Arlington Heights; mid-century modern homes in Highland Park; and in-town residences near the charming business districts of Highland Park and Glenview. I was looking forward to marketing them in an early and robust Spring market. In preparation, I worked with the founder of “Strickly Cookies” to create branded cookies for my listings and Sunday open houses. I actually copyrighted the moving truck design because the cookie bears my web address and tag line, “LBS…On the Move.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, open houses are not permitted and restrictions may be placed on individually scheduled showings by various governmental entities, homeowner associations and management companies, as well as the fee-simple owners of a property. If a showing is permitted, only four people per showing are allowed, each one to be protected with a mask, gloves or hand sanitizer, as well as booties, and social distancing guidelines are to be practiced.
Hopefully, when the virus is understood and contained, open houses are allowed and we can all return to the personable aspects of social life. Until then, if you need to sell, buy or rent a home, we can work together on a move within the guidelines.
