The year 2020 and the Covid 19 period is definitely going to go down in history as the year of change. Change happens slowly one human at a time because each one of us can only change ourselves. There’s no way to stay the same and not change living through this period of time with everything going on around us.
The most poignant sight for me this week was driving Sunday morning and seeing full city blocks of our diverse neighbors with brooms, rags, spray bottles and hoses scrubbing graffiti off buildings and sweeping up debris. So many caring people working together to restore our city. So many resilient people who refuse to let our city stay defaced for even one whole day. So many strong people who will push through and not just survive but help their neighbors get through hard times. The determination and energy of our community of people helping people was a rainbow in the thunderstorm.
This Corona period feels like it shined a spotlight on the things we feel, and then it magnified those feelings and gave them an importance and intensity they didn’t have before, perhaps because before we were too busy and distracted to focus on our feelings. Injustices that always felt unjust somehow feel outrageously unjust now. Kindness that always felt warm and fuzzy somehow feels overwhelmingly touching now. And that’s why Corona will lead to change – because that heightened intensity will be the impetus to push us through the hard parts and to propel us forward to the light at the end of the tunnel.
There’s so much humanness and vulnerability in the air. So many people sharing stories of their fears and their personal experiences with racial profiling. So many sharing both positive and negative experiences, and some asking not to be prompted to share at all. Store owners writing personal messages on their plywood shuttered stores announcing their identity and pleading to others’ compassion feels so vulnerable and human.
And all of the intense feelings translate to real estate. Staying at home is shining a light and giving some intensity to the value of our homes. So many people seem to want to move to a different home and when their homes get sold or purchased, there’s an intensity to their joy, excitement, gratitude, and anticipation. People are saying they want to move closer to their parents, closer to their kids, to a better space for their kids, to a better space for their work, to a better climate. I think we’re all getting in touch with our feelings and what’s important to us and the intensity of those feelings is pushing us to act on them and to make a change.
On our listing on Hi Point, we got a preapproval letter from CitiBank that had terms that were pretty remarkable. Interest rate around 3%. 30 year fixed loan. 10 days for appraisal contingency. 14 days for loan contingency. 30 day escrow period. 15% down and 85% borrowed. The lender said so confidently that the loan is pretty much 100% likely to be approved. We’ve been seeing loan contingencies removed on time for so many different lenders. It’s the lending climate that can be driving real estate activity now too.
There’s still more demand than supply. The market is doing well given the increased demand over supply, and from those who are selling their houses now and speaking of their experience, the sellers seem happier than ever with their end result – financially and emotionally. Real estate during Corona is a touching intensely human experience.
With everything going on around us, we all need each other more than ever. It feels right to walk together, to shine flashlights in the sky together, to clean up our city together, and to grow together to accept one another exactly as we are. The only way through these times is to lean in and feel all the feelings and ride the wave. Even though we only change one human at a time, we’re really a human chain linking arms and doing it together. While it’s still hard now as we push through, the final end result of the Corona period will be cool because change is cool and doing really hard stuff to get to a really better place is what life’s all about.
Xoxoxo,
Sheri
