Social Distancing? Here’s How To Keep Your Business Running

Earlier this week, in an attempt to “flatten the curve” and slow the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19), the U.S. government announced new social distancing guidelines. The recommendations include limiting close in-person contact, avoiding crowds and large gatherings, and canceling public events.

For real estate agents, whose businesses depend on in-person interactions, the news hits close to home personally and professionally. Clients and prospects are becoming increasingly (and understandably) hesitant to attend listing presentations, face-to-face meetings, and private showings.

Many current sellers are canceling open houses out of concern for their own health and safety. Others, knowing buyers are unlikely to attend open houses, may pull their home off the market for the time being. And many would-be sellers, worried about opening their home to groups of unknown guests, may put their plans of marketing their listing on hold indefinitely.

While no one can predict what’s to come, for now, the impact of increased cautiousness is already being felt. New York reported double-digit drops in open house attendance since the beginning of March. Boston real estate organizations are ending in-person meetings.  And Seattle, one of the cities most impacted by COVID-19, recently announced plans to halt open houses altogether.

In such uncertain times, safety remains everyone’s primary concern. But the reality is there’s still commissions to earn and bills to pay, and many of you might be apprehensive about how to keep your business running.

A virtual, digital presence is more important than ever 

Homesnap was built for agents and brokers, and Homesnap is thinking of them in this critical moment. As you may have seen, the New York Post recently chronicled how real estate agents are turning to technology as a stand-in for open-houses and other in-person meetings.

Let’s take this opportunity to highlight one of the free Homesnap Pro features agents can use to do precisely that, because a strong online presence is going to be crucial for agents who want to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and supplement the traditional face-to-face pieces of a real estate transaction.

Substituting in-person open houses with video

Homesnap Stories operate almost identically to Facebook and Instagram Stories (and can be pushed out in a single click on those social platforms, as well). Using Homesnap Stories, agents can add a video tour of themselves walking through a property directly to their listing page on Homesnap, making for an effective way to replicate the feeling of an open house.

Beyond highlighting a particular property’s amenities, Homesnap Stories allow agents to showcase their personality.  Much of an agent-client relationship is predicated on strong personal relationships, and these virtual videos let agents build a little bit of a rapport when face-to-face contact isn’t an option.

Homesnap Stories are an effective way to do right by sellers, as well. Sellers must balance their apprehension of hosting an open house against their desire to sell their property.  By using Homesnap Stories to host virtual walkthroughs, you’ll mitigate the drawbacks of in-person tours while demonstrating to your client you’re using every available tool to help them find a buyer.

Instructions and best practices on creating your own Homesnap Stories can be found here.

Adding a larger presence to your Homesnap profile

Agents using Android devices can add Agents Stories to their Homesnap Profiles as a way to further showcase who they are and introduce prospects and new clients to their business.  They work in much the same way as Homesnap Stories, only they are hosted on your profile page rather than your listings.

With Agent Stories, the possibilities are endless.  Agents can testify to their experience and knowledge of a market, invite clients to get in touch, even share a joke or two.  Whatever way they’re used, Agent Stories are a much more personal and endearing alternative than a few lines of text and static headshot.

These too can be easily shared on social media.

We’re always here to help

There’s no two ways about it:  This is an unprecedented moment. Everyone has been impacted by COVID-19 to some degree. Right now, all we can do is use the tools available to us to mitigate the impact on our businesses. We hope Homesnap Pro can help you do that.

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Coronavirus: A Guide for REALTORS®

Why is NAR issuing this guidance?

In response to the growing concerns about COVID-19, commonly referred to as coronavirus, NAR is providing this guidance to help REALTOR® associations respond to the coronavirus’s impact on the real estate industry. As of March 16, 2020, the United States government has banned all travel from Europe, the United Kingdom and Ireland into the United States for a period of thirty (30) days. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued Level 3 Travel Warnings for China, Iran and South Korea, and a Level 2 Travel Health Notice all other global travel. The situation is rapidly evolving. Be sure to refer to the CDC’s website for up-to-date information about travel warnings (link is external), as well as information about the coronavirus’ current impact in the United States (link is external). Daily updates about the coronavirus are also available from the World Health Organization (link is external). 

What is Coronavirus?

COVID-19 is a novel coronavirus that has infected more than 142,000 individuals in 134 countries, causing the World Health Organization (WHO) to classify this outbreak as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Symptoms include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Anyone experiencing emergency signs such as difficulty breathing, persistent pain or pressure in the chest, new confusion or bluish lips or face should immediately seek medical attention.

What is the risk of exposure to coronavirus?

Older adults and people who have severe underlying chronic medical conditions like heart or lung disease or diabetes seem to be at higher risk for developing more serious complications from COVID-19 illness. The virus is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person and the best way to prevent illness is to avoid being exposed to this virus. The CDC urges citizens to monitor your health and practice social distancing. Social distancing means staying out of crowded places, avoiding group gatherings, and maintaining distance (approximately 6 feet) from others when possible. Visit the CDC’s website (link is external) for latest updates.​​

What preventative measures may be taken to reduce the risk of contracting and spreading coronavirus?

The CDC urges individuals to take these measures to protect themselves and others:

  • Wash your hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water aren’t available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
  • Practice social distancing by staying out of crowded places, avoiding group gatherings, and maintaining distance (approximately 6 feet) from others when possible.
  • Avoid close contact with anyone who is sick.
  • Stay home if you have a fever, cough, shortness of breath or any other cold or flu-like symptom.
  • Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.
  • Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze, or cough or sneeze into your sleeve.

Additionally, to help prevent the continued spread of coronavirus, on March 15, 2020, the CDC recommended that for the next 8 weeks, all in-person events consisting of 50 or more people, such as conferences and assemblies, be cancelled, postponed or modified to virtual events (link is external). Avoiding large in-person gatherings of this sort is another effective measure that will reduce your risk of contracting or spreading coronavirus.

What unique issues does coronavirus present to the real estate industry?

When an infectious disease, such as coronavirus, is associated with a specific population or nationality, fear and anxiety may lead to social stigma and potential discrimination. REALTORS® must be mindful of their obligations under the Fair Housing Act, and be sure not to discriminate against any particular segment of the population. While the coronavirus outbreak began in Wuhan, China, that does not provide a basis for treating Chinese persons or persons of Asian descent differently.

May I ask clients or others I interact with in my real estate business if they have traveled recently, or have any signs of respiratory illness?

Yes, you may ask clients or others about their recent travel, particularly to areas identified as having an increased risk of coronavirus. To avoid potential fair housing issues, be sure to ask all clients the same screening questions based on current, factual information from public health authorities.

I typically drive my clients to showings. May I refuse to drive potential clients to see homes?

Yes. However, be sure that any change to your business practices is applied equally to all clients. You may refuse to drive clients who show signs of illness or reveal recent travel to areas of increased risk of coronavirus, or you may instead decide to stop driving clients in your car altogether, and simply arrange to meet clients at a property. If you do continue to drive clients in your car, it is a good idea to frequently clean and disinfect surfaces like door handles and seat belt latches, and to ask clients to use hand sanitizer when getting in and out of the car.

Should I still conduct open houses on my listed properties?

Speak openly and honestly with your seller about the pros and cons of holding an open house. Assess the risk based on your specific location, and direct your clients to local and state health authorities for specific information about the severity of the risk in your area. You could also propose alternative marketing opportunities for your seller’s consideration, such as video tours and other methods to virtually tour a property. If you do hold an open house, consider requiring all visitors to disinfect their hands upon entering the home, limiting the amount of people in the home and providing alcohol-based hand sanitizers at the entryway, as well as soap and disposable towels in bathrooms. If you decide to do any cleaning at your client’s home, be sure to check with your client in advance about any products you plan to use. After the open house, recommend that your client clean and disinfect their home, especially commonly touched areas like doorknobs and faucet handles.

What precautions should brokers consider taking in their offices?

Brokers should use their best judgment when formulating a plan. In addition to performing regular environmental cleaning with special attention paid to frequently touched surfaces, brokers should implement a mandatory “stay-home” policy for any staff member or agent exhibiting any sign of illness. Brokers may want to consider imposing a mandatory or maximum flexibility remote work policy for employees and instructing agents to stay out of the office. In addition, in the wake of the CDC’s recent guidance recommending that in-person events consisting of 50 or more people be cancelled or postponed, brokers should take measures to hold virtual meetings when possible, and potentially postpone or cancel in-person meetings or events to take to limit close contact between individuals.

Be sure to monitor updates from the CDC, as well as your state and local health authorities for additional information and guidance on holding meetings or events. For travel considerations, review NAR’s “Coronavirus: A Guide for REALTOR® Associations“.

Finally, do not panic, stay informed, and use your best judgment. The situation is rapidly changing, so focus on putting policies and procedures in place to keep your employees and agents informed, safe, and to avoid business disruption in the event the situation worsens. The CDC’s Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers (link is external) is a helpful resource.

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Legislative Session Ends with Significant REALTOR® Victories

The 2020 Session adjourned “Sine Die” on March 12 bringing a welcome to the biennial session. In Washington, the Legislature conducts “long sessions” in the odd years (105 days) where they adopt a budget and do the heavy lifting of policy work. The “short sessions” in the even years (60 days) are meant to serve as a supplement to the prior year and addressing any changes to the budget, and bills that were not passed the prior session.

Prior to the 2019 session we polled nearly 1,000 of our members to ask what our priorities should be in this two-year process. They clearly told us that we needed to work on real estate taxes and fees, supporting policies that led to new (preferably first-time) homeownership opportunities and helping restart the condominium market. We accomplished many of those objectives in the 2019 session, and added some significant victories in the 2020 session.

“The 2020 Legislative Session built on the successes we achieved in the 2019 session. We put money back in our members pockets, increased housing supply options for the entire state and defeated several bills that would have brought harm to our industry. It was a great session for our members, homeowners and those who want to become homeowners”

-Kitty Wallace, Washington REALTORS® President

 

TAXES & FEES

The 2019 session saw an unusual bill that lowered the Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) on many properties but raised it on high end properties, to include commercial real estate. All property sales under $1.55 Million (at least 90% of all sales in WA) saw a decrease in real estate excise tax. Predictably, we saw a rush in the commercial real estate market to complete deals before the bills effective date of January 1, 2020 that likely pulled some 2020 transactions into 2019 to avoid the increase. In most non-commercial transactions, you are able to tell sellers you helped put more equity back into their pocket.

We were also able to exempt Real Estate brokerage services from the B&O Tax increase applied to most service businesses. The 2019 B&O Increase came back to the legislature this year for clarification, and once again real estate brokerage services were not included in the service businesses that will pay the B&O increase.

Both bills took effect January 1, 2020 and we’re monitoring the impacts across the industry.

HOMEOWNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

The 2019 session saw the Legislature adopt HB 1923 which incentivized cities to adopt ordinances that would allow “missing middle” types of housing to be built. That bill was extraordinarily successful with over 70 local jurisdictions taking advantage of the bill.

The legislature built off of that success and in 2020 extended the deadline for the incentives and also removed population size restrictions. With this change, cities of all sizes can take advantage of these incentives. We know our smaller cities also want to build missing middle housing and now they will have more tools to make that a reality.

The legislature also furthered legislation on encouraging Accessory Dwelling Units in local jurisdictions, moving local comprehensive plan dates to correspond with data from the US Census, and added an extension of popular incentives in the Multi Family Tax Exemption bill.

WHAT DIDN’T PASS

Most sessions are defined by what bills passed, but bills that didn’t pass are just as important. The 2020 session was no exception to this rule we saw numerous bills that would have dramatically impacted Real Estate fall by the wayside. These included a bill that would have required lawyers on both sides of a transaction in any in-house listing, a new independent contractor test that could have taken away REALTORS® independent contractor status, rent control, just cause eviction, a bill that would have made it easier to implement additional real estate excise tax in certain areas, and a head tax on highly paid employees that would have applied to certain real estate businesses and brokers in King County.

The 2019-2020 Sessions are now a wrap. Our members made their priorities clear, and we were able to take steps to meet those priorities. More work remains- especially on first time home owner opportunities. We will continue to listen to our members and work with legislators in an effort to keep moving the industry forward.

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