COLUMBIA, S.C. — Everyday lives have been drastically changing since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Real estate agents are having to adapt to these changes in order to continue doing business.
“I’m with people day in and day out- that’s literally my job to meet with people,” Libby Satterfield, a second generation realtor in the Midlands told News 19.
“I think the biggest shift has been moving all of that to virtual," Libby shares, "To zoom calls, doing a lot of video walk throughs for people because we’re drastically trying to cut down on showings unless you are very certain that you’re interested in a property.”
Libby has taken most her listings to video, “People can get a really great feel for it and if its not the right house, then they’re not even going to go look at it. And its going to make sure all of the serious buyers do see it and get that feel online instead of having to come in and possibly contaminate the area.”
Libby says she is also using gloves and masks during showings and making sure she opens the door for her clients instead of multiple people touching things.
The National Association of Realtors has even released a Coronavirus Guide for Realtors covering things like sellers wanting to stop in person showings and how to handle open houses.
But despite the bad, Libby says now is a great time to list your house with an unprecedented amount of people online,“Its just shocking how many people are online looking at those photos, looking at the videography, so its not a bad idea to go ahead and do that because – when adults are bored, they sit around and look at houses.”
Libby has even sold multiple homes in the passed few weeks, despite the pandemic.