The Coronavirus pandemic has left people in a changing Real Estate Market.
Real Estate Market Changes may affect people both ready to buy of sell a home. With serious concerns about the future of the Real Estate Market and how it will work for them. Open houses have gone to “virtual tours”, sight unseen buyers are becoming more common. Some buyers are waiting due to fears of “catching the virus” by using someone’s door knob, etc. This is a legitimate concern, which in the future may indeed change how the real estate market works. To discuss a plan for you just ask us.
However, some of these changes like following social distancing may be beneficial to everyone. I will outline the home of the future, and if you are a buyer or seller how this may affect your decision to enter the real estate market.
If you are a Home Buyer, here are some of the “futuristic characteristics” of the average home:
- More space for multi-family living, either for parents, children or even renting a room for extra money. The in-demand home will have extra bedrooms, basements, rooms over garages, or any other unused space, that can be converted to a bedroom. An extra bathroom can also be lumped into this category.
- To go along with this thinking, an extra space that can be converted back and forth for multi-purpose use is also a plus. This includes, as an example, if you are now working at home, a room, that is an office by day and a dining room by evening, might be of interest.
- Fully equipped homes that include, home security, panoramic WIFI, Bluetooth, streaming abilities, internet enabled devices, and other computer managed apps or devices that can control lighting, heat, air-conditioning, even turn on the oven.
- COVID 19 related concerns for safety starting with Social Distancing incorporating into the Real Estate Market. Sanitation and security will remain high on the list for buyers and sellers. Easily cleanable surfaces, use of disposable items (once a no-no) are now becoming the new norm. Self-cleaning toilets, rumba- like robots to automatically clean floors, futuristic appliances that monitor levels of food in the refrigerator, automatically set the microwave or oven to the right cooking length and temp are becoming more common.
If you are a Home Seller it might be the time to:
- Showcase your home by highlighting the some of the features discussed above, such as
- Extra rooms that can be used for multi purposes
- Installing a security system, or a Ring doorbell
- Emphasize the cleanliness of the home, change air filters, keeping a log of how the home has been sanitized, i.e. a log book of cleanings, displaying and have available hand sanitizer, cleaning wipes, and offer masks during showings or open houses
- Use a staging service that can show the versatility of a multi-use room.
- Offer as an incentive: Possibly,
- A top to bottom house cleaning service upon move-in
