The coronavirus pandemic has turned many things in Windsor-Essex upside down, including the real estate market.
The arrival of spring has traditionally meant more houses being bought and sold. Still, the pandemic has resulted in drastic changes to the process, designed to protect both the consumer and the real estate community.
Lorraine Clark, president of the Windsor-Essex County Association of Realtors (WECAR), told BlackburnNewsWindsor.com that one significant change had been the discouraging of open houses hosted by realtors.
"We used to promote them on our website, we're not doing that right now because we're trying to stop the open houses," said Clark. "We can't tell the agents to stop doing them, but we can recommend, and so we're not promoting the open houses."
Virtual showings have taken over for in-person showings during the pandemic. However, for those sellers insisting on in-person showings, a disclosure agreement must be signed, and the seller must turn on the lights in the house and leave the premises during the showing. Agents are asked to use hand sanitizer, wear gloves and not touch things in the home.
Despite the uneasiness over public contact during the pandemic, Clark said the local housing market is still very much in favour of the seller.
"We're still seeing multiple bidding wars," said Clark. "Some of them [properties] are just getting fill-up offers, and some are still getting bidding wars. There are still listings coming on the market. There are people who have sold their house and need to buy a house, and vice versa."
Clark added that there will always be a need for real estate professionals to do their jobs since life changes such as divorce, separation, death, job loss and others are forcing property owners to sell.
The pandemic has not hurt Windsor-Essex housing prices. According to the March 2020 figures from WECAR, released Monday, the average price of a home was over $357,874, compared to an average price of $333,039 in March 2019.