CoronaVirus And MY Personal Real Estate Business
I hope all of you are safe and enjoying extra time with your family. I wanted to update you on how our local market is doing and my outlook on the current condition of our market from my business personally.
Changes in day to day operations:
Personally we have stopped doing open houses but we have not stopped selling or showing homes. Since the virus has thrown us all in a whirlwind, we have shown houses to four different buyers, have gotten two properties under contract and have had two closings. Both of these activities have changed. Closings are now taking place in cars in the attorney’s parking lot. Realtors and mortgage professionals have been asked to not attend closings. Showings are still taking place. I’ve been carrying hand sanitizer in pocket and use it every time I touch something in the house. I’ve been using my elbow to turn lights on and off and keep a six foot buffer between my clients and myself. I’ve found that only serious buyers are out shopping during this time and the tire kickers won’t risk getting sick just to view a house they don’t plan on buying. All of our listings that were on market last month have closed or are under contract and we have sellers getting two houses ready to list and should hit the market in the next few weeks. I believe these homes both will sell in the first week as the market is still experiencing a shortage of listings.
What I think the future holds:
I’ve heard many investors are waiting and watching hoping that the market turns for the worst and they can pick up houses at a discount. I’m not sure this is going to happen for us. We have a had a seller’s market for quite some time now. I really can’t see us going straight from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market. I think the shift will result in a healthy market where days on market will actually increase and there will be less houses go over list. In a healthy market buyers should be able to think about buying a house for a day or two before making an offer. In today’s market in certain price ranges more than others, buyers are having to make a decision in a lot of situations the day they see it. This was the case with a current set of buyers I have with a top end price range of $250,000 who put in an offer on a house first day on market of $11,000 over list and they got outbid! Luckily they were able to find an even better house and were able to get it for list price. They should be closing at the beginning of next month. People are still out there buying and selling and if your ready to make a move, I wouldn’t wait. Interest rates are still low (the buyer I was speaking of earlier got a 15 year mortgage for under 3%) and if you’re thinking of selling, inventory is still low and you can sell your house with less showings and less hassle.