Co-op and Condo Apartments Are Still Selling – Virtually

Co-op and condominium dwellers, take heart. Just because you’re stuck working at home doesn’t mean you can’t sell your apartment or buy a new one. How is it done in these locked-down times? Virtually, of course.

Despite the coronavirus shutdown of all non-essential businesses, people are still buying and selling apartments – thanks to listings, walk-throughs, co-op board interviews and closings that are all performed virtually, the New York Post reports.

Dolly and Jenny Lenz of Dolly Lenz Real Estate just listed a grand Central Park West apartment for $23 million. “We plan to start marketing it virtually, with targeted mailings and e-blasts,” says Dolly. “We look forward to showing it as soon as we are allowed to. We are listing it now because people are home. We have a captive audience … and we want targeted buyers to know the property is listed for sale, so they can put it on their lists to see once the ban [on in-person showings] is lifted.”

Meanwhile, the entire closing and final walk-through of a townhouse at 211 E. 48th St. occurred online-only. “Despite the old-fashioned, face-to-face nature of real estate transactions, we closed late last week in the midst of the Covid-19 outbreak,” says broker Matthew Lesser of Leslie J. Garfield & Co. “The final walk-through of the property, title-closing and close of escrow were all done virtually.”

Actor and retired teacher Annie McCormack hasn’t let the coronavirus stop her from finalizing the deal for her new apartment. She just completed a virtual co-op board interview, via Zoom, for an Upper West Side apartment – and was approved. “It was a first for them and for me,” says McCormack. “I had never done a board interview before. It was very unusual … We were all going through the very same hard experience outside the interview, and that was kind of moving in a way. Here I am in one room, and they were in four other rooms. They were all isolated, just like me. They took their time and asked a lot of questions about where I was and how I was doing that they may not have asked in another situation.”