Governor Lamont named real estate as one of the essential industries in the State, and therefore eligible to operate during the pandemic shutdown. Being good citizens, we closed all of our offices for the duration, and stopped doing open houses, because we believe that it matters greatly to reduce the chain of contacts each person has in a day or week. It doesn't mean that we have stopped selling property, however.
Given the mildness of the past winter, business was already hopping by mid-March. We have learned that many people, especially those coming to universities and hospitals to work, receive their offers very early in the calendar year, before there is much inventory to view in the way of homes to buy. We now try to list homes earlier than was customary, so quite a lot of activity had already taken place by the time we shut our offices.
Our agents have adapted to the new normal, and are continuing to show--virtually much of the time--and put offers together. They have done inspections by Facetime, and closings by Zoom. They were used to using technology for many things, but have gotten even better. We have company meetings by Zoom, and even cocktail parties the same way. It seemed strange at first, but putting in an offer without physically looking at a house has become common in overheated metro areas, where multiple offers rule, and a property's time on the market is measured in hours. Buyers then examine the home after the offer, during the inspection period.
I once bought a house while my husband was away on a business trip, and had only looked through the windows the weekend before he left. We lived there for twenty years, and raised our family in that house, so we were more than happy with our choice. Maybe there was some cognitive dissonance at work, or maybe some karma, but homes get found in all kinds of ways. We are busy finding new ways to help people discover their own.
