Covid-19 and in Person home showings

Lafaytte Colorado Home Showings Down 75%

Showing data for Lafayette, Colorado, a popular bedroom community to Boulder shows home viewings have plummeted.  Now, some of this is due to the most recent guidance from the state of Colorado regarding what is and is not an essential service.

Governor Polis Says Home Showings Are Not Essential

The most up to date guidance dissuades in person home showings. These are not considered essential. In fact, a home showing just requires too many people to be at risk. The home's owners and/or occupants have to leave - so they might go somewhere and risk coming into contact with Covid-19.  The Realtors doing the showing are at risk.  An agent might get too close to someone that is an asymptomatic carrier.  Or the agent could be shedding virus.  And the home buyer is at risk.  They may touch a surface in the house that is holding the infection.

With so many at risk, Colorado's order makes sense.  But not all aspects of real estate are considered non essesntial.  Making the list of essential services:

Home Closings Are Essential Real Estate Services

The closing of existing home sales are essential business in the state of Colorado.  We are seeing title companies go to great lengths to keep everyone safe.  There are curbside closings where only the documents requiring notarization are signed with the Boulder home buyer never leaving the confines of their car.  Heck, buyers are even encouraged to bring their own blue pens.

Also considered essential services: home inspections.  My guess is that some homes will go under contract and then buyers will have an in-person viewing of their new house during the home inspection.  In fact, this is already common.  Many out of state home buyers do just that.  They see a house virtually online or via a Face time virtual showing with an agent walking the property on their behalf.

And then during their home inspection, the buyer gets a chance to visit the property firsthand. 

How Covid-19 and in Person home showings Today vs 'yesterday'

Check out the two graphs below. The first one shows we were averaging 36 showings a week just a month ago. That's pretty good for a $1/4 million dollar price differential.  Today, we are down to 9 showings for the most recent week. And that is likely to continue to plummet.  Boulder Real Estate News blogs in depth on showings, inventory and what's happening in Lafayette Colorado this week with the impact of Covid-19 and in person home showings falling off. 

So, a month before the pandemic becomes a National emergency in the US, strong showing activity in this $250,000 price range for Lafayette, CO, a city of Boulder County.  But, cut to the most recent week and the stats plummet to one fourth the activity.