Covid 19 has taken over the news. What is the virus going to make our market look like as a buyer and seller?If you’re out there struggling with the idea of purchasing, selling or waiting, I have a couple of ideas that will help guide you through that process of deciding if entering the market is a good idea.
Now, let me say, if you’re renting right now, it is still a great opportunity to buy a home. The interest rates are at historic lows, so you have the opportunity to buy more home and qualify for higher mortgages than before. With interest rates being that low, it really does give you a better opportunity to get out there and put some equity into your own hands instead of putting money into your landlords pocket.
Can I still views homes during the pandemic?
The quick answer is yes. Realtors are still showing homes and we’re still doing some virtual walkthroughs, which is nice. So for a buyer that’s looking to get into a home, we can still help facilitate that.
Is it still a good time to sell?
I have sellers that are coming to me and they’re really worried about the market and having it downturn.
Over the last two weeks, there were a lot of contracts that died, just disappeared. There were people that were saying “it’s not worth it for me right now to risk where we’re at” and so they would cancel their contracts. What I’ve found is there are still enough buyers out there with safe jobs in Utah that can still qualify for a home and we’re able to lock up those contracts and continue on with the process.
One of the last contracts that we had, the buyer actually backed out, completely dropped the contract one week before closing, which really left us into a bind. However, we were able to put the contract back together in under 24 hours and we were able to do so at about a 1.2% difference in price.
So you can see as the stock market plummeted, we were able to still get a very attractive price for the sellers. The real estate market is still very strong. Of course there is some uncertainty with how things are going out there. There’s a lot of uncertainty with the stock market and employment. I’m not saying that we’re on a cushy uphill slip. That’s not what’s happening. But there are still a lot of buyers in Salt Lake with great jobs. They need a house, they still need a place to live.
If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Fitness Realty!
