Government guidance is changing by the day – sometimes by the hour – so it is important to take note of the latest official advice with regards to keeping safe in these unprecedented times. Health experts and agencies worldwide are recommending that we all keep a sensible distance from one another and limit social contact as far as possible. This has implications if you are trying to sell your house.

Hosting viewings

Few potential buyers will be happy putting down money without having looked around a property first. If you are not willing to have them in your home, your only option might be to remove it from the market for the time being, or to impose strict conditions on their visiting.

Avoid shaking hands and, if possible, keep at least two metres apart. Naturally, your ability to do the latter will depend on the size of your home. Keep all surfaces clean and disinfected – particularly handrails and door handles, which are frequently touched – to reduce the risk of a visitor picking up infection in your home and, once they have left, clean any surfaces with which they may have come into contact.

The Centers for Disease Control recommends using ‘a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol’ and, for surfaces, household bleach diluted to a concentration of five tablespoons per gallon of water, or solutions that are at least 70% alcohol.

If any member of your household is at elevated risk of infection or is aged seventy and older, the government advises more stringent measures be taken. The sensible advice here would be to cancel all viewings for the foreseeable future.

You should also cancel all viewings if you or any member of your household has exhibited symptoms including but not limited to a persistent cough and high temperature over the last 14 days.

Virtual viewings

If you are scouting around for an agent, look for one that can produce virtual tours. Although no substitute for an in-person viewing, a virtual tour can give potential purchasers a first look. This can help those for whom your home would be a poor fit to discount it without visiting, reducing the risk of infection to either themselves or your family.

Both Rightmove and Zoopla can host virtual tours, giving purchasers a 360-degree view of your home. If your preferred agent doesn’t have the ability to produce one itself, specialists like EyeSpy360 can step in, while Virtual Tour Online promises to make the process as simple as using the panorama function on your mobile phone.

If you are already listed with an agent that doesn’t offer virtual tours and has no inclination to do so, you may be tempted to sign up with a more accommodating rival. Check the terms of your existing contract carefully before doing so.

Most agreements include a sole agency term during which the agent will be entitled to commission on the sale – possibly even if they don’t generate the lead and close the deal themselves. Signing on with a second agent during this time may mean you are liable to pay commission to both of them, doubling your costs.

If any sole agency agreement on the sale of your house has expired, you can either move away from your existing agent or sign on with a second (or third) agent on a multi-agency basis. Although you will likely pay higher commission to whichever agency eventually sells your home, you have the benefit of several outlets competing for your business, potentially increasing your chances of a sale.

Wherever the pandemic leads, its impact will be felt for some time. How the housing market will respond remains to be seen, but agents are adapting already. Seattle-based Redfin is offering tours by video chat and others will almost certainly follow suit. A willingness to adapt – on their part and ours – will help keep things moving.

And keep you moving, too.

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