The New Normal for Buying A Home

May 6, 2020

During this week’s Real Estate Roundup, Steve spoke with Terry Story, a 31-year veteran at Keller Williams in Boca Raton, about what the process of buying and closing on a home sale looks like in the coronavirus environment.

How Home Buying

All right, so we start with a listed property. Terry explains, “I would have already made videos of the home and taken my buyers on a virtual tour. Then, if they’re seriously interested, I arrange for them to do an actual real-world tour of the property, complete with mask, gloves, and even protective booties for their feet.”

Neither the buyer’s agent nor the seller or their agent can be inside the property when the buyer is doing an in-person tour. Social distancing, right? This is far different from the way it’s traditionally done, and it requires some trust. Terry noted that “We’re letting strangers into someone’s home, unsupervised, and the buyer and seller are being exposed to each other—possibly being exposed to the virus.” Terry pointed out that the positive thing about all of this is that the seller can pretty well safely assume that the buyer is a very serious, motivated buyer. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be willing to go through all these obstacles—the mask, the gloves, etc.

Terry continued explaining the procedure. “Let’s assume the seller’s agent knows the buyer by now and that the buyer has been qualified—really qualified, not just a pre-qualify. We’re talking about having proof of funds. That means that if the buyer is paying cash, then they’ve got the money in their bank account right now. If they’re financing buying the home, then they’ve been approved for the financing. It’s solid. They have a mortgage loan that’s been approved. The seller’s agent is going to, like, hold the buyer’s driver’s license while the buyer goes into the home, by themselves, for their do-it-yourself tour of the home.”

Steve added that getting that mortgage loan approval is noticeably more difficult than it was before the coronavirus hit. For example, because people’s employment situations are more uncertain, the bank is going to check on their income and employment situation not just when they apply for the loan but all the way up to right before closing, right before everybody signs everything and the bank hands over that big check.

Mortgage lenders are really just doing their due diligence. It’s just that things have changed, and the reality is that the buyer might have had a job when he first applied for financing, but he might have been laid off before we got to the closing. The lender is going to look at more than just the buyer’s assets or salary; they’re going to dig deeper and find out, for instance, if the buyer is considered to be an essential worker.

Terry summed things up by saying that the bottom line is this: it’s an agent’s job to act as a transaction broker. She said, “It’s my job as a listing agent to make sure that I’m bringing people to meet with the seller who is qualified and highly motivated to buy, especially right now.”

Getting To The Closing

Steve asked Terry to continue describing the step-by-step process of closing the sale. Once a qualified and motivated buyer is brought together with an eager seller, the next step is to come to an agreement on price. At that point, the process pretty much continues like it always has. As Terry explained, “It’s time for an inspection period. But one change is that inspection periods aren’t taking as long as they used to. They’re now typically a week or less, instead of ten days because inspectors just aren’t as busy these days.”

The lending process, from the agent’s point of view, is still basically the same, “Except,” Terry said, “that we’re checking on it every few days, calling the lender to make sure the money will be lent in a timely fashion. That could be a potential area of concern when you consider the strain that the coronavirus pandemic is putting on everyone.”

Terry explained that, in general, the name of the game is really just staying on top of everything, staying in touch with each party involved in the process to be sure that everyone is still on board. “We need to make sure that everyone still wants to be in on the deal, that everyone is still motivated and working toward the same goal of getting to the closing table. Frankly, we’re communicating more than we ever have before with the other realtor, just to make sure that we’re all still on the same page and that everything’s getting done properly.”

Sealing The Deal

Staying on top of each stage of the process is critical in preventing the sale of the home from falling through. As the process moves along, the final stage is the closing itself. This is another part of the process that’s changed as a result of the coronavirus.

Terry informed listeners that, “Closings can basically be done remotely now. Certain lenders have approval to close on a home completely remotely. The biggest issue is that some documents have to be notarized. But as we deal with more closings in this way, we’re learning how to get things done as smoothly as possible. The title companies are moving toward going completely digital, but if need be, someone from the title company will go out to the buyer to have documents signed. Agents are becoming couriers, doing whatever it takes to get all the necessary documents signed. We’re doing whatever it takes to get the job done and close on the home.”

Typically, the agent gets the seller to sign all the documents first, and then they get the documents to the buyer. Some lenders are sending a lot of the documents to the buyers in advance so that at the closing table there are fewer documents to sign. Once payment clears, the agent might have to be a courier once again to make sure the keys to the home get to the buyer.

If you’d like to learn more about buying or selling a home, visit https://teamterrystory.com/ or call Terry at 561-945-4348.