Monday marked a turn back to the old normal for Bay Area real estate agents.
After only being able to offer virtual tours for the past several weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic, agents can now walk prospective buyers through homes as long as they follow certain guidelines.
Sereno Group real estate agent Holly Barr spent time Monday getting a house ready to be seen. She and other local agents no longer have to focus solely on virtual-only home tours. In-person walk-throughs are back in practice.
But there are some guidelines in place. No more than one agent and two potential buyers from the same family can be in the home at the same time. Masks and gloves need to be worn. A release must be signed. Nobody else can be in the home during the tour.
“While those virtual tours are becoming more and more popular and they’re absolutely being used, you know, part of it is how can we responsibly interact in-house because that is such a big part of it,” Skylar Olsen, a senior economist with Zillow, said.
Zillow says home sales have slowed by about half in the COVID-19 era largely because people haven’t been going out to buy. Now, some of those doors are open again.
“There’s definitely some excitement about it,” Barr said. “It’s a slow roll open, and I’m glad that we’re in the first iteration of opening.”
