Wisconsin Safer at Home Update
On March 24, Gov. Tony Evers officially issued a “safer at home” executive order for the state of Wisconsin to help control the spread of the COVID-19 (coronavirus). Under this order, all businesses are required to close their doors beginning Wednesday, March 25 at 8:00 a.m. through Friday, April 24 at 8:00 a.m. unless they are identified as “essential services.” The order defines “essential services” to include the following services related to the real estate industry:
- Real estate services
- Accounting
- Appraisers
- Building trades (carpentry, electrical, HVAC, plumbing, moving and relocation services, etc.)
- Construction (essential business and housing)
- Home inspection
- Insurance companies
- Legal
- Lenders (banks and credit unions)
- Property management
- Title companies
This means that real estate brokerage services and most services related to real estate transactions are currently allowed to continue during the duration of the executive order. However, you are not required to provide these services during the executive order. If you decide to provide these services, you must continue to maintain social distancing requirements (a minimum of 6 feet between people), follow reasonable health and safety protocols, and follow all other public health recommendations issued by the State Department of Health Services and U.S. Centers for Disease Control, which can be found on the WRA COVID-19 (coronavirus) webpage www.wra.org/covid19.
If you plan to attend private showings, the following precautions may be required:
- All visitors may be asked to disinfect their hands upon entering the home
- The hosting agent may limit the amount of people in the home
- Alcohol-based hand sanitizer may be offered at the entryway
- Sellers may be asked to leave lights on and doors and cabinets open.
- Visitors will be asked not to touch any surfaces.