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How Will Arizona Real Estate Survive COVID-19?

In residential real estate, some sellers always need to sell, and some buyers always need to buy. Unfortunately, we ran into a brick wall with the Covid-19 (coronavirus) epidemic in the Valley of the Sun and everywhere throughout the United States.

Spring training shut down; sports leagues suspended their seasons. Indian casinos & dine in restaurants have closed their doors, and organizers have canceled conferences in Phoenix-Scottsdale area. A real estate market shift is inevitable and unfortunately early arrow signs appear to be heading down vs staying level or continuing going up. 

Covid-19 (coronavirus) is starting to damage our economy as Phoenix–Scottsdale resident begin social distancing to stop its spread.

So far, though, home-buying/selling demand – spurred by the fed interest rate cut to near zero – has held up in Phoenix–Scottsdale home market.

This could all change if the economy shuts down for a long period of time.

Low mortgage rates don’t mean s**t if people don’t have jobs to pay their mortgage.

Many loan officers who I have spoken with said the impact of the outbreak has not been felt – yet. – Juan Pesqueira, Realtor.

The real estate industry is recognizing the need for substantial preventive measures. When touring properties with buyers today I take numerous precautions: booties for shoes, alcohol wipes for doorknobs (no one was touching them), hand sanitizer or hand washing at both the beginning and the end of the showing. If you don’t have a mask, a bandana over the mouth and nose will suffice and don’t worry you will not be frowned upon or have others thinking you’re about to rob the joint! Many listing agents are conducting showings wearing disposable gloves. 

The COVID-19 crisis led (so far) agents to cancel open houses. Some agents are going virtual with Facebook/Instagram Live, 3d floor plans, virtual tours, and video marketing. Some buyers are asking if they could tour a particular home by themselves while agents wait outside or in their cars. The days of driving clients around are gone, now buyers fallow agents or meet them at the home they will tour.

Not all agents are cancelling their open house but are offering extra protection: a pile of booties and hand sanitizer next to the sign-in sheet.

Like many other businesses, realtors are waiting to gauge the exact impact of the pandemic. I think I can speak for all of us Realtors when I say we are hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.

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“In addition to future business we worried whether homes that were already in escrow would close,” says Pesqueira. This should give us a better picture in the next 30-90 days. What the real estate industry most fears are a repeat of the 2008 recession, when home prices plummeted in Phoenix-Scottsdale to an all-time low and thousands of realtors were forced out of the business. At this point it’s too early to speculate about the long term ramifications of the pandemic or to predict what neighborhoods would be most affected if panic continues to roil the housing market.

“What’s so unfortunate about coronavirus, besides the obvious, is the timing of this,”. “Typically, during election years, markets soften because of the uncertainty of who will come into office. But take that and add four to five months of the world shutting down—well, the situation changes.

Agents must be vigilant protecting their clients and themselves from getting the virus.  ”All open houses, from the brokers-only ones to the public ones should be canceled until the virus is fully contained,” Pesqueira says. “But if we can’t show these homes to our clients in person, we might use smart phones and FaceTime to do it.”

Real estate never stops – ever. People still need to buy and sell homes. I want my clients to know that I remain fully operational and continue to schedule showings, market my listings, and do what is needed to get homes sold. I do this with keeping in-person contact to a minimum or none at all and taking the extra precautions to keep myself and others around me safe. Well get through this!

With final words of encouragement… We’ll all get thru this, we will, everybody have faith. Stay strong, let’s keep accountable, and do what we need to do

– Rock

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