When it comes to buying and selling homes one of the last steps in the process is the closing meeting. Because closings can no longer take place in an office settings, real estate agencies having to resort to holding drive up closings.
The process entails a client meeting a closing manager or real estate agent outside of the office and the final steps of closing taking place in the car and over the phone.
“Other than a little bit of the inconvenience signing on a clipboard with maybe a steering wheel in front of you, I think the people are liking it and are very appreciative of us, keeping our distance,” Deb Partee, Closing Manager at Midland Title & Escrow, tells WHO-TV 13.
One Iowa Realty Agent said though many agencies will probably discontinue drive up closings once the pandemic ends, it is definitely the first steps in the real estate industry conducting more business remotely.
“People do like convenience and the personal service comes right along with that. We’ve been able to manage the circumstance and make it a personal experience, even though you’re not sitting in the same room with everybody. So, I think it’s working, and some good will come out of it,” realtor Cathie Beals tells WHO-TV 13.
One local mortgage loan officer says they’ve been working with clients whose financial situations have changed, such as adding cosigners and utilizing one borrower to ensure they still can purchase a home.
“With the furloughs and people getting put on unemployment, there has been a little bit of a fallout,” Home Services Lending Loan Officer Matt Lender tells WHO-TV 13. “And with those cases, we are doing our best to try to put them back together. Whether that be adding a cosigner, utilizing one borrower. We’ve been able to work through those.”