During the Lockdown
Aware that many of you had plans before the start of this health crisis affecting us all, our real estate agency in Etterbeek has sought to adapt as quickly as possible to the current situation. We are therefore working daily to adjust our methods and change our habits by following government recommendations, to continue to support you.
Do You Wish to Sell your Property?
Even if visits to properties for sale or rent are currently on hold, it is essential to prepare the ground for the sale of your apartment or house. Indeed, if you wait for the lockdown to end to start the selling process, there will already be many properties on the market, which could reduce the visibility of yours. It is therefore better to start working on the property today, particularly by carrying out an estimation via digital channels.
We can, for example, carry out the estimation by videoconference. You can also send us photos of your property and explain in detail the available areas and layouts. Depending on the quality of the photos received, we can even already create an advertisement and thus list the property for sale quickly; it will then benefit from very high visibility since few new properties appear on the market, while potential buyers are still present.
If it is a property you do not live in, whether currently rented or vacant, the administrative work can already begin. This includes, among other things, gathering various information from the urban planning department or the building’s co-ownership trustee. Procedures for soil certificates, electrical installations, or EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) can also be initiated. However, it will be necessary to wait until the end of the lockdown to take photos or conduct a virtual tour. The objective is to be the first to list the property for sale as soon as activities resume, in order to gain better visibility.
“Many properties should have been put up for sale or rent during this period. I am thinking in particular of owners whose tenants moved out just before the lockdown or who had planned to sell their property at this time of year. Once the isolation is over, many properties will therefore come onto the market, not to mention the summer period which is more favorable for real estate. It is therefore preferable to already collaborate with an agency before the rush of the recovery, as we can already find potential buyers in our database. Only the visit will then remain to confirm the purchase “, explains Amaury Hermanns, founder of the agency.
Do You Wish to Buy or Rent a Property?
To avoid a total paralysis of the market and our activities, we have implemented many digital solutions which help us continue to offer our properties available for sale or rent, whether it’s detailed plans, video presentations, or virtual tours. This allows interested individuals to already get a fairly precise idea of the available property. Our representatives then conduct a more in-depth interview than usual with interested parties via videoconference, to verify that it is the type of property they are looking for.
Two situations then arise
:
- Either the buyer or tenant wishes to wait until the end of the lockdown to visit the property and make their decision;
- Or they already make a pre-offer subject to a visit and, after seeing the property, confirm their wish to buy or rent. This mainly concerns investment properties or tenants who signed a lease renewal before the end of the lockdown and need new housing as soon as possible. In the former case, the owner does not necessarily have to visit the building, as they will then rent it out; they can therefore already make an offer that will be countersigned, and then proceed towards the sales agreement.
This step allows our real estate
agents to thoroughly qualify the future buyer or tenant, so that things
can materialize quickly once the lockdown ends.
What’s Next?
While our real estate agency had already adapted before the full lockdown, notably by implementing social distancing measures during visits and remote work for our real estate agents, we will continue to work with these adaptations once the lockdown is over. This may help to prevent, at our level, the emergence of a second epidemic wave.
We will, of course, follow the recommendations for the real estate sector regarding visits, in order to protect our clients, representatives, and the property owners or tenants. Visits will be limited to a maximum of two people, and it will be forbidden to touch objects, cupboards, and door handles. Masks will also be made available to clients visiting the premises.
Finally, we will continue to conduct preliminary individual interviews with individuals who wish to visit the apartment or house for sale. This will allow us to verify that the property meets all of the buyer’s search criteria. The virtual tour will also be used for this purpose.
Do you have questions regarding the sale or rental of your property during this very specific period? Please do not hesitate to contact our representatives; they will be happy to answer all your questions and guide you in selling or renting your apartment.
