To Our Customers,
Homie’s motto has always been “we’ve got your back”, and we will continue to serve you through these unusual times. Our first concern is for the health and safety of our customers, partners, employees, and communities. You likely have some questions about how recent proactive measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 may have an impact on your real estate transaction.
Our infrastructure, investments in technology, and team approach have prepared us to operate at full capacity in this type of situation. Aside from a few employees that must be available in person, the entire Homie team is working remotely to help keep everyone safe and healthy. Whether you are buying, selling, or refinancing, here are some things that should help you through the next few weeks:
Homie Real Estate for Sellers
Your full-time, dedicated agent will continue to work remotely on your behalf. You should be aware of the following:
- Open houses. We recommend discontinuing open houses at this time. Data shows that open houses are not the most effective way to sell a home and canceling them will help keep everyone healthy.
- Tours. In some cases, we will be providing video-chat tours and video walkthroughs for buyers. As a seller, we encourage you to film a video walkthrough of your home. We will promote your video walkthrough on social media, the MLS, and directly to our buyers. We will be providing instructions for recording and uploading your video walkthrough.
- Timing. The Days on Market (DOM) will likely increase as some potential buyers spend more time at home and curtail non-essential meetings. We will not stop marketing your home and negotiating on your behalf. In fact, we will be increasing our marketing spend to promote your homes online while people spend more time on social media.
- Closings. Once your home goes under contract, you may see unexpected delays in closing your transaction due to limited availability of some third-party service providers, such as county recorders, appraisers, or inspectors.
Homie Real Estate for Buyers
Your full-time, dedicated agent will continue to help you through the buying process. Here are some things to be aware of during this time:
- Video walkthroughs. Many home sellers may be reluctant to allow a large number of buyers to visit and inspect their home on showings. To help deal with this issue, Homie will be encouraging sellers of Homie-listed homes to create video walkthroughs of their home. Homie sellers will not be hosting open houses during this time.
- Video-chat tours. If you are getting serious about a specific home, our agents may be able to take you on a video-chat tour of a home through Facetime or other video conferencing tools.
- In-person tours. Where video walkthroughs or virtual tours are unavailable, your Homie Buyer Agent will do their best to secure an in-person visit but will be following the CDC’s recommendations around social distancing.
- Pre-approval. If you haven’t already, this is a good time to get pre-approved for a loan so you can narrow your search and minimize the number of tours you are requesting. Your buyer agent can help you narrow down the list of homes you would like to see to limit any exposure.
- Closings. Once you are under contract on your dream home, you may see unexpected delays in closing your transaction due to limited availability of third-party service providers, such as county recorders, appraisers, or inspectors. Your Homie Buyer Agent will continue to communicate with you often about your timeline.
Homie Loans™
Our entire Homie Loans staff is working remotely but will still be operating at full force to assist you in your mortgage transaction. Keep in mind that turnaround times for transactions may increase due to delays with third party operations and verifications. We will keep you well-informed on any changes related to your transaction.
Homie Title™
If you plan on using Homie Title for your home closing, please know that we are taking proper precautions to keep everyone healthy. We offer mobile notary services in many areas. In addition, our new e-notarization platform should be in place within the next week.
If other options are not available, you can still close on your home in person at Homie Title. To protect you, we have dramatically reduced the number of Homie employees working in our office, and the entire space is a handshake-free zone. We sanitize tables and chairs and replace pens after every closing.
Community First
Through a new initiative called Homie Helps, we are mobilizing our team to support communities that need extra help during this time. We are identifying areas where we can make the greatest impact as we work to lift and support our neighbors. We will share more about Homie Helps in the coming days.
Please reach out to your agent or loan officer with specific questions and concerns. As always, we’ve got your back.
Regards,
Johnny Hanna
Homie CEO