KAYENTA and COVID-19: The New Normal

COVID-19.  Shelter in place!  Stay at home!  Flatten the curve!  At the beginning of 2020, none of these phrases meant a thing to those of us who aren’t infectious disease specialists.   Flash forward to today…less than four months later, and you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who isn’t uncomfortably familiar with these terms as they relate to a global pandemic that seems straight out of the script of a futuristic science fiction movie.   

The coronavirus has accomplished something that has never been done before in the history of humanity.  It’s brought every corner of the world to a complete economic and social standstill.  It’s forced each of us to reconsider the way that we live, work, relax, recreate and engage with others.  The silver lining (if one is to be found in such chaos and uncertainty) is that the virus is making us realize how truly dependent we all are on each other to get through this challenging time successfully. 

At Kayenta Homes & Properties, a successful 2020 St. George Area Parade of Homes in late February led to several new homes listed for sale and many prospective buyers passing through our office.  So, in mid-March, when the decision was made to close the Kayenta Art Village in accordance with directives from state and federal health officials and political leaders, we immediately began implementing new and innovative ways of marketing and selling Kayenta’s homes and lots. 

The results thus far have been encouraging (since March 1st, our office has closed 4 homes with another 2 pending).  So, what’s different?  Since mid-March, our brick and mortar office in the Village has been operating on limited hours and by appointment only. However, we remain accessible 7 days per week via telephone and email and remain committed to communicating regularly with home sellers and interested buyers. 

Some of the other proactive steps that we’ve implemented (or enhanced) include the following:

• Work from home as much as possible and leverage phones and email more effectively
• Leverage the use of electronic documents whenever possible to make offers and finalize real estate purchase contracts
• Keep a minimum of 6 feet between people when showing a Kayenta home
• Limit the number of people visiting a home during a showing
• Travel to/from showings in separate cars to maintain social distancing
• Ask homeowners to turn on all lights in the home and to leave doors ajar to avoid physical contact with items in the home
• Have sellers sanitize all commonly-used surfaces before and after showings
• Require the use of face masks and encourage other preventative measures
• Request that buyers refrain from touching anything during showings
• Require buyers (and agents!) to sanitize their hands before and after showings

Of course, implementing these new ways of working require focus and repetition until they become second nature to everyone.  However, we fully expect that in a post-pandemic work environment, many of these steps will become part of our new normal way of doing business.  We’re hopeful and cautiously optimistic that our collective efforts at social distancing to flatten the curve are working and we will come out stronger on the other side.