A commentary by the principal of Happy Cat Real Estate at Remax Camosun. A reboot of our continuing series on the impact of COVID-19 on local businesses. Six months after a lockdown and re-opening, business people share the experience and their views on moving forward.聽
Five months have passed since my first commentary about the effect that COVID-19 had on the real estate market when the 颅pandemic hit.
Wow, how things have changed.
Along with the 颅overwhelming sales on face masks and hand sanitizer, sales for real estate 鈥渟old鈥� signs have also 颅skyrocketed.
Back in March the unfamiliar territory was putting fear into everyone. Buyers were leery to buy because of worry that the market was going to 鈥渃rash,鈥� and sellers were hesitant to list because they didn鈥檛 want strangers in their homes. The market was slow.
As things started to settle, we as Realtors began to adjust. New practices were adapted, such as face masks and gloves at 颅showings, limited people in homes at a time, no open houses, shorter showings and lots of sanitizing.
Fast forward to June, and the market came back with a bang.
The city re-opened and people were realizing that if staying at home is encouraged, and travel is not, then why not find a home they love and hunker down for the long haul.
Home sales were back 鈥� along with hardware and garden store sales 鈥� because people were embracing the stay-at-home culture and making their nest as enjoyable as possible.
Coming out of the slow time has been a blessing, but the challenges we face now are trying to find homes for buyers. It鈥檚 a wonderful time for sellers, but if you鈥檙e are looking to buy you better be on the pulse of the market with an agent who is ready to drop everything to show you what may well be your next home.
I have been involved in six multiple offers in the past few weeks and I also just witnessed a colleague who received 20 offers on a home that she had listed. Things are moving. Mortgage brokers are going full speed, homes inspectors are slammed and our support staff is putting in long hours to make sure all these deals happen.
With all this activity, the bottom line is this 鈥� we don鈥檛 know the future of COVID and if there is another wave, then we may have a NEW-new norm. Travel is not an option and the 鈥渟tay home-stay safe鈥� mentality is life as we know it.
Be happy that we are on the Island with our low numbers of COVID cases because things could certainly be worse.
At the end of the day, I think Dorothy said it best: 鈥淭here鈥檚 no place like home.鈥�
How is your business doing? Let our readers know with a personal commentary. Send a submission in 500 words for consideration to: [email protected]
