More than 97 percent of Americans have been under stay-at-home orders, or some version of sheltering in place, for most of the past eight weeks as the COVID-19 pandemic swept into our lives and upended life as we know it.
Even in areas where real estate was deemed essential business, production took a hit at many firms as sellers resisted having strangers in their homes and all but the buyers who most needed to move elected to delay their home search.
Despite historically low inventory and rock-bottom mortgage rates, new construction has pretty much ground to a halt in many areas, new listings dropped 27 percent year over year in the first week of April, and NAR reports March home sales nationwide dipped by 8.5 percent.
There have been exceptions.
“During the period between February 24, when we first began hearing about COVID-19, through the last week of April, we wrote 388 more contracts than we wrote during the same period last year,” said Tim Milam, president of Coldwell Banker Seacoast Advantage in Wilmington, N.C. “That’s an increase of 27 percent, an incredible feat, especially while most of our 700 agents have been working from home, homeschooling their kids, and making adjustments to just about everything in their business.”
In a state still under virtual lockdown, the firm also racked up a 26 percent increase in volume year over year, largely because North Carolina was never a hotspot for the novel coronavirus, Milam said, but also because his agents were prepared and proficient with virtual showings and remote transaction management - skills he believes will keep them competitive in the new normal.
In Long Island, N.Y., a suburb of one of the hardest hit cities in the nation, sales took a hit, but Realtors are taking it in stride.
“We plan to re-open in phases in concert with statewide and CDC guidelines,” said Georgianna Finn, founder of family-owned Coach Realty. “It’s been difficult, but we’re focused now on the human element, on keeping people safe, allocating resources, and preparing our agents for the pent-up demand we know is coming.”
With the first phase of re-opening not scheduled before May 15 at the very earliest, Finn said, the company is developing safety and business protocols agents can use during each phase as they ramp up toward meeting their sales goals.
“I have no doubt they will get there,” she said, “even if they have to redo their 12-month business plan into a 14-month plan in order to reach their target.”
As spring weather warms, however, and parks and beaches beckon, American patience is wearing thin, and despite wide-spread warnings to take re-opening slowly, governors in some states are more quickly loosening restrictions.
In Florida, where stay-at-home restrictions were largely lifted this week, brokers are largely upbeat.
“We had an exceptional first quarter, and we didn’t see a drop in new pendings until the third week of April,” said Rei Mesa, president and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty. “Year over year, we may see a drop of 18 to 20 percent in the second quarter, but we look toward finishing the year strong due to pent-up demand.”
Re-opening doesn’t mean abandoning strict safety guidelines, Mesa said. “We will continue to practice social distancing and sanitary measures to ensure the health and safety of our agents, buyers and sellers.”
If there is a silver lining to the COVID-19 crisis, Mesa added, it’s that buyers, sellers, and agents have learned over the last eight weeks how much can be accomplished virtually, from home showings to electronic signings to curbside closings. “Realtors have learned to embrace it, and consumers love it,” he said. “These are skills and processes we will need, and happily use, going forward.”
In Georgia, the first state to lift stay-at-home restrictions, “things are pretty wide open,” said broker/owner Faron King, Coldwell Banker High Country Realty in the resort community of Blue Ridge, a two-hour drive from Atlanta.
“We plan a soft re-open this week, to the extent that agents feel comfortable coming back into offices,” King said, “but I can tell you that, even working remotely, sales in March were better than last year, and while we saw a slight dip in April, rentals were full and we saw a surge of new interest in second-homes away from the city. One mid-priced home listed on Saturday was under contract on Monday, and there had been multiple offers.”
In part, he said, it’s because there is growing interest in moving from dense cities to less populated areas, or at least having somewhere to retreat - a trend reinforced by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Buyers are coming here from Florida, from Texas, even from some Northeast states. In some cases, it’s our agent who is putting the customer off, because campgrounds are closed and there’s no place yet to park their RV.”
Clearly, brokerages in different areas face vastly different timelines in ramping up after COVID-19. For the most part, however, they are united in the message they are sending their agents.
“Safety must come first,” said Finn. “At the same time, it’s important to use this lag-time to stay close to your sphere of influence, to reach out, to keep them informed, to offer help if they need it.”
It’s all about adapting, noted Mesa.
“After nine-eleven, travel was changed forever,” he said, “and much about the business of real estate may be forever changed going forward. But this industry is nothing if not resilient. We will come out of this all the stronger.”
