Buying a home during the Covid-19 pandemic
The Covid-19 crisis has changed the world. It has changed the way we work, shop and interact with each other. Even though we all know that this special situation is only temporary and will blow over, we have had to adjust everything, including how we go about buying a home during Covid-19.
Is it a good time to buy a home during Covid-19?
Is it a good time to buy a new home? Should you be concerned about going from one viewing to another and exposing yourself to the virus? At the end of the day buying a home isn’t a quick decision, you need to check out the place in great detail and not just make sure you like it but that everything is in order and as expected.
Home prices have been shifting downwards in some areas of the country, hence from that aspect it might be a good time to look out for a good deal. Sign up with a reputable website like Realtor.com and get your area. Keep in mind though that sometimes, during times of economical downturn there are also less properties on the market.
Tips for home buyers as you look for your dream home during Covid-19:
- Ask your real estate agent to provide additional digital footage of the property. Of course you have, most likely, looked at an online listing of the property first which shows plenty of pictures. But you can ask for 360 degree images of the rooms and videos.
- Next step – video walkthrough. Yes, you don’t need to go to the property yet, just ask the realtor to go to the property and walk you through each room, open up cupboards, look in corners and everywhere you would look if you’d be at the place in person.
- Ask for the property to be disinfected prior to your in-person viewing.
- Once you are ready to see the place the realtor will arrange a time for you to arrive at the property, same as before Covid-19 appeared. You will be let in when the place is empty. You should wear a mask, gloves and normally real estate agents or owners make disinfecting hand wash available.
- Despite wearing gloves you should ask for all doors to all rooms to be open, perhaps some cupboard and wardrobe doors should be open too so you can peak inside. Please try to touch as little as possible.
- When you leave the property dispose of the gloves and use the hand sanitizer. Better be on the safe side!
- As always – don’t forget to get pre-qualified even before you start looking for a new place 🙂 and read all the other important info about buying homes
Appraising your future home:
Normally when you make an offer and start the process of getting a mortgage, part of the process will be to confirm the value of the property, which is done by an appraiser. Appraisers used to come and look at the property but nowadays they may get permission to do this remotely. They can look at previous valuations of the property, compare the home you want to buy to others nearby of similar size and with similar features. Further the appraiser will use the video walk through, images and documentation to ‘look under the hood’, check the age of appliances, guarantees etc. A lot can be done based on the docs the seller has been collecting over the years.
In a nutshell:
All in all you can see that buying a home during those challenging times is completely do-able. The market has adjusted quickly since the beginning of the year to accommodate buyers so they can purchase new homes, technology has stepped in where needed over night. In fact recent statistics show that as of march, mortgage refinance applications spiked 79% due to lower rates (479% more than this time in 2019!) and new purchase applications are bouncing back, reaching similar levels to where they were last year at this time.
We are here to support you through your homebuying process, please reach out and chat to Lucy anytime.
Other content you will find useful:
From our knowledge center::
- Refinancing Your Home: What Is It and When Should You Do It?
- Everything You Need to Know About Down Payments When Purchasing a Home
- Mortgage Payments and Calculators – Everything You Need to Know
Start chatting with Lucy, your 24/7 assistant and we will get working on letting you know your requirements for approval.
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- Everything You Need to Know About Down Payments When Purchasing a Home
- Mortgage Payments and Calculators – Everything You Need to Know
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I’ve been looking at a lot of properties (in person) since lockdown ended and it’s amazing how much difference there is between agents/vendors. Some have been very professional, even sending us a leaflet beforehand explaining that we should wear masks, sanitize hands etc, and others have not explained anything and have allowed elderly vendors to be present without face masks or even maintaining a correct social distance.
It’s a good test to work out which real estate agents are trustworthy and professional and which aren’t…!