Safer At Home While Selling Your Home

On April 20, 2020, Governor Polis initially announced the Stay At Home order would be allowed to expire and a “safer at home” initiative would be instilled. The hope is to keep people vigilant about COVID-19 while attempting to minimize the negative economic impact felt across many industries, among them real estate. As of this writing, the formal ‘safer at home’ plan has yet to be released in writing. However, based on counsel from several deft attorneys employed by the Colorado Association of REALTORS® we have been informed of what we can expect the changes and guidelines to be in regard to real estate activity.

First and foremost, the Governor’s address warned of treating the expiration of the stay at home order as a signal to conduct business as usual in ANY trade. There are many real estate brokerages that may; Erickson Realty is not one of them. We have many clients - buyers AND sellers - that have willfully kept themselves or their properties away from the market. During what is usually considered the busy spring season, our reluctance to show and list property "normally" has led to a massive drop in business, to be sure. Candidly, the type of clients that would embrace violating the law to get their house sold - or to get a deal - aren’t the clients we wish to attract. 

Also, many Northern Colorado real estate offices were quick to employ COVID-19 waivers that required execution prior to showings. These disclosures typically ask the same questions of the seller, the buyers and the agents:

• Whether they’ve traveled out of state in the last two weeks.
• Whether they know they had the coronavirus or had been around someone who did.
• In some cases to agree to hold certain parties harmless if another became sick.

At best, these waivers open a discussion between agents and their clients. At worst, they promote a false sense of security and potential liability for all concerned. Either way, these forms are likely to become a fixture in the process for some time. We are happy to discuss any concerns our clients may have with these disclosures/waivers, the new COVID-19 addendum to the Contract To Buy And Sell, the health risks of showing or listing or any other issues that may arise from the pandemic in general.

In regard to physical showings:

• No more than three people TOTAL will be allowed in a property.
• Obviously no overlapping showings or open houses are allowed.
• Strict adherence to social distancing will be maintained.
• The wearing of masks is also highly recommended.

For listings, we will continue to employ non-invasive tactics of virtually showing property as a first round, as we've been doing for years.

If this all sounds like common sense, it is. But unfortunately we often feel like we are in the minority in terms of this type of conduct.

To summarize, we here at Erickson Realty believe there is a responsible way to work through a transaction while still doing our part to minimize the hazards inherent to the process of searching for and listing a property. We will continue to conduct business in a safe, legal manner while adhering to the REALTOR® Code of  Ethics. Our clients, our customers, and the public in general can and will benefit.

If you have further questions on specifics please reach out. We will be keeping our clients informed of changes to the guidelines as they arise, and if you are currently working with an agent we hope you all will help to #DoYourPartCO.