Main Content

A | A | A | A
Feeling the Feelings – TBG Update 5/15/2020

Feeling the Feelings – TBG Update 5/15/2020

Staying at Home feels like taking on another job.  As part of the new normal, during Corona we’ve been doing committed family dinner without cell phones or technology.  Like so many other families are doing, this week in my home each of my kids planned, shopped for ingredients, and cooked dinner for our family.  We hiked Temescal Canyon and Stone Canyon and we went to the beach at night to confirm that the bioluminescence was gone.  We had some hard conversations instead of pushing them off for another time.  Just like selling real estate, even though it’s all a blessing, staying at home is so much hard work.

In the real estate world in our area, it feels like there’s a surge of people who want to move to a new space. Most important criteria for the people looking at houses seems to be a really great space to work at home.  Second biggest priority seems to be a great outdoor space to take a break from work and go outside for a bit.  

Some sellers are apprehensive to sell now, thinking it must not be a good time with the world shut down.  Buyers wish more sellers would sell because there are few houses to choose from and so many wanting to buy. 

In a way, real estate is happening in a more efficient way.  Sellers who choose to sell now are pricing their houses at market value because aspirational pricing doesn’t make sense during a pandemic.  Buyers who are looking to buy now can’t just breeze through an open house (because open houses aren’t allowed.)  Instead, buyers are driving past properties to make sure the location works, they’re reading pre-inspection reports to know the property’s condition, they first see houses virtually by Matterport tour and go through photos online, and they get their loan pre approval letters in place to know exactly what they can afford to buy.  If buyers still want to see a house in person after all that vetting, then they’re welcome to tour with masks and signed waivers.  At the point when buyers want to see a property, it’s truly fun to show them.

It feels like the world is more focused and feeling all the feelings in a more intense way during Corona.  People who choose to put their house on the market seem to really want to sell their house.  People who choose to buy a house now seem so excited to move to a new space.  Even appraisers who do drive-by appraisals and don’t go inside the property seem so intent on understanding the subject property in more detail than they would want to when the world was moving at a faster pace.

It’s interesting to observe how we as humans adapt to any situation and create a new normal.   This new circumstance gives us a chance to pause and reset and craft our new normal in a way that’s different from the way we used to do it.   Part of the new normal is new routines, new rituals, new meaning and purpose, and apparently for a good number of people, new houses.  Because new houses factor into the new normal for so many thus creating healthy demand, for today it doesn’t feel like real estate prices in our area will be going down.  Rather, it feels like with interest rates so low + houses for sale priced at market value + time for buyers to spend on the house buying process + less competing uses for buyers’ money (like travel, events, large weddings) the demand makes a lot of sense and sellers might be smart to capitalize on the demand, push past fears, and increase the supply of available houses for those wanting to buy.

My hope continues to be that in the future, when we look back at this time in our lives, we see the ways we grew and changed and evolved as humans from this forced “pause and reset”.  If we come out of this “shut down” better set up to live our best life, then in addition to flattening the curve and saving others, we will have accomplished something monumentally meaningful.  Accomplishing something monumentally meaningful is always so much hard work.  But it’s what makes the hard work worth it every time.  



Lots of love!

Sheri

Get
In Touch
Curious about the home buying or selling process? Let's talk! Connect with us for a commitment-free chat.

    yes

    I agree to receive marketing and customer service calls and text messages from The Bienstock Group. Msg/data rates may apply. Msg frequency varies. Reply STOP to unsubscribe. Privacy Policy & Terms.

    Skip to content