Staying In Touch
We are all watching stories of people risking their own lives to save people….I think many of us wish we could do something really heroic just now.
But we each have our assignments, our unique challenges, every day. I am fortunate to be low maintenance, I live alone. My structure and my goals are my own. (Hahaha, like my 2 kitties.) I water the Impatiens or check on the a/c at a vacant listing, address issues with tenants, earn a new real estate certification, check on a client, cheer up a friend, create a new marketing prospectus, participate in global Realtor Zoom conferences, practice yoga to cello music…
Peace and power to all of you who hold your family together at home.
Today my goal is to say “Hi” to clients I may not have spoken with in some time, to neighbors and friends I have not seen at the grocery, or on social media, and Realtor friends I may have missed on recent Zoom conferences.
Being a small independent agent, I can usually afford to focus my full attention on a project and give each client the ultimate “hands-on” real estate experience. So this not so hands-on, virtual, arena is somewhat new to me. But like my peers everywhere, I am jumping in. I will continue to be resourceful in finding ways to show and market homes and make the experience meaningful for those who want to buy and sell real estate. Everything is not fine. This health pandemic is a financial disaster, but it is not a real estate recession. And it is the opinion of most economists and industry experts, real estate will help lead the way to recovery for our economy. So let us all keep putting deals together!
The most frequent question I get right now is what is going on today in the real estate market with this virus situation. And that is still hard to say, because this ” new market” is only a couple weeks old. We are not seeing big changes in local statistics at this point… deals still close, deals from last month are largely still in the pipeline. And the market inventory has remained much the same due to several factors: Some contracts are falling out over financing issues/ income disruption, and those properties go back on the market. At the same time some sellers have cancelled listings, or changed to “temporarily off the market” status…generally they own occupied properties where families are nervous to have traffic through their homes until a “safer” time. We see price reductions,sure, but nothing too astounding. In many areas price reductions have been common for some time as sellers enjoyed a climbing market, and occasionally priced their properties a bit too optimistically.
From February 19 to March 19, Pinellas County recorded 922 single famly homes sold. From March 19 to today, April 19, SFR sales totalled 811. 507 condo units sold in the window February 19 to March 19, and between March 19 and April 19, 440 condo units sold. The number of pending sales for both single family and condo units remained essentially unchanged between February 19 and today, as reported by our Stellar MLS market review. That stability is positive.
After over 32 years in the real estate business, I have not seen it all….This is new territory. I have no crystal ball.
If you are a consumer and want to know, “is this a good time to sell?” …Each real estate market has its own rules. But if you are ready, and able, to allow safe showings, I believe now is as good as next month, or a couple months from now. There are buyers out there, I can see this on the response I get from real estate posts. Shopping on line will be stronger than ever, buyers will not favor touring a myriad of homes with their real estate agent before making a decision, and if they are ready to make a move, decisions may come quickly.
If you are a buyer, and you are ready or need to make a move, my advice is to get out there and see if you might make a really good deal on the house you like and want for your family. Sellers will appreciate you more than ever.
Contact me if you have questions I might answer, go well, with best regards,
joan