Real Estate Post-COVID-19 Shutdown: What Are You Seeing?

With real estate reopened in Pennsylvania, how are you conducting business differently?

While COVID-19 undoubtedly impacted all Realtors®, the lingering effects are still in full force in the industry. Many Realtors® are now carrying more supplies on the job. District 6 Vice President Jodi Diego said she now always has wipes, shoe covers, gloves, hand sanitizer, masks and disinfectant spray on hand when she is out on the job to protect herself and her clients. She always has her bag ready to go, because Diego said that she, along with most Realtors® she knows, is busy.

But it’s not back to business as usual yet. “I do miss hosting open houses, I get a lot of my business from those. I have not had the opportunity to host a virtual open house yet, as my listings have sold within a few days, so no inventory to hold. I believe the market will stay strong at least through the summer, we will see what happens in the fall with regards to resurgence of COVID-19, the election and the market.”

PAR President Bill Festa said he is conducting much more business virtually, but his business has also been busy.

“I think the pandemic has caused a lot of pent-up demand, creating multiple offers and properties selling over asking price,” said Festa. “It’s still too soon to tell if this is the initial burst coming out of the stay-at-home order, or if we are picking up where we left off in February. I’m hoping it’s the latter.”

“It’s a great feeling to see activity again,” added Festa. “It is a little bit more cumbersome because of the new standards of practice and forms, but it’s far better than the alternative.”

“I think the situation has created better systems,” said District 3 Vice President Eric Rehling. “We often hear and talk about the importance of systems in our business. We know they help drive efficiencies, increase profits and deliver better service consistently. The in-person time is so short and therefore so critical, we are relying more on ensuring the communication leading up to the in-person appointment is spot-on.”

Rehling said an example of this is a qualifying video conference call before meeting in-person, for either a seller or buyer. While a pre-qualification meeting was something Realtors® often strived for, it was easier to forgo that and meet someone at a house hoping the physical meeting would help spur the relationship, he said.

“Today, I don’t see that happening as much,” said Rehling. “It is about sticking to the plan of a virtual pre-qualification call to discuss the process and all the nuances in greater detail. I think this has helped us be a little more efficient with our appointment time. Reducing wasted trips and the safety risk.”

“Since the reopening of the marketplace, there has been tremendous demand in our marketplace. While I’m not yet sure there is enough time in the year to make up for 10 weeks of slowness, the past few weeks have shown buyers are still very much in the marketplace,” said Rehling. “I think it will be interesting to see the back half of this year. No doubt there was tremendous pent-up demand in the marketplace, which we are experiencing right now. I believe part of the current pace of the market is because buyers who were buyers before the shutdown and were unaffected financially by the shutdown jumped back in as soon as they could. Meanwhile, sellers have a product to prepare for market, so it isn’t as easy for them to just ‘jump’ back in. They have to finish the projects, get the photos taken, etc. Perhaps in the next month or so we will see more inventory flow in, which should help calm the pace we are experiencing now.”

Time will tell if COVID-19 ends up having a positive impact on the market, and if 2020 will end on a strong note for the real estate industry. Until then, remember your masks.

“It does bother me that many professionals I see are not following the recommendations for our own safety, such as wearing face masks. We must lead by example,” said Diego. “We must continue to be diligent in our processes and weather the storm. There will be more use of a virtual and digital means, which is not a bad thing. If we don’t embrace the changes, we will not succeed.”