With regard to the Tennessee “Stay At Home” Order and real estate transactions:
The State of Tennessee has determined Residential Real Estate to be an “essential service” (while some states have not). This means that you can still buy and sell property during this COVID-19 work and travel restriction time period. A few scenarios of why we Real Estate Professionals have been allowed to continue to work are as follows:
- An elderly couple has been in the process of transitioning into Assisted Living. In addition, the recent stock market dip has threatened their retirement account. They need to sell their family home so they’ll have access to the proceeds of that sale in order to sustain them financially at their new residence.
- A family is relocating to a new city because dad lost his job but was quickly offered a coveted position two states away. They want to keep the family together and sell their existing home quickly in addition to purchasing a new home so the kids will be settled in by the upcoming school season.
- Mom recently passed away and her Will has been probated. The children do not have the financial means to keep up mom’s mortgage payments. They need to sell the home quickly to get out from under the debt burden.
If you watch a lot of real estate TV shows, you may think real estate is not really an “essential” service. However, in reality, Realtors® serve many people through some extraordinarily difficult times: Death, divorce, sickness, job loss, etc–as well as exciting times such as getting married, having babies, and job advances. We typically are one of the first calls folks make when a big life event happens: we just don’t talk much about these people and their situations as we simply aren’t able to for privacy purposes.
Situations like those mentioned above (and many others) are taking place right now all over the country. Buying, selling and renting are still basic needs that everyone has. I have been a Realtor® for 23 years now because it is in my heart to serve people through their life situations, and why I believe our State was right to consider my services as “essential.” I have processes in place to keep both Buyers and Sellers safe during property viewings, and much of the transaction can be handled on our computers remotely.
Please don’t hesitate to call me if you need any advice about the current market, your property values, or where I see the market heading.
