I am receiving a lot of calls from prospective sellers asking whether or not the should list their home for sale or if perhaps it would be wise to wait and see the overall affects of the virus has on home values. This a great question and one that I cannot say for certain has the perfect or correct answer. Typically spring (I am writing this blog in April of 2020), is an ideal time to list your home as many prospective buyers start looking for homes to buy this time of year, however the COVID-19 virus has created a ton of uncertainty within the real estate market.
Many people have either lost their jobs or have been forced to close their businesses and thus are no longer able to afford to purchase a home. Fortunately, not everyone is in this boat and there are still buyers who are employed or self employed and able to purchase a home, but the number of buyers is undoubtedly been reduced the last couple of months.
Although no one knows as of today what the real estate market will look like 3, 6, 12 months from now, I am not seeing a major impact as of today on home values. This of course, can change and most likely will have an affect on values, however it is interesting to note that during the last 5 economic recessions, home values actually increased in three of of the five recessions while values decreased in two of them. No one knows quite yet what the fallout of the virus will do to today’s real estate market. Will it crash and force values to plummet or will the market rally when the virus runs its’ course? Time will tell.
The bottom line is if you feel you want to sell your home during COVID-19 pandemic, list it. If it isn’t listed, you’ll never sell it. There’s always a buyer for the right home, no matter the economic situation. If you list it and it doesn’t sell, then no harm, no foul and for sellers who are afraid that buyers will make low ball offers in an attempt to score a deal, you don’t have to take or engage such offers unless you choose to. Also if your home value decreases due to the virus fallout, that means everyone’s value will also decrease. In the event you take a slight hit in the sale of your home, chances are you can make that up when you turn around and make a new purchase. If you are a home owner, we are all in this together.
As always, thanks for reading.
Hill Country Flat Fee Realty saves home sellers thousands of dollars of their equity, while still offering a full service experience. We serve Boerne, San Antonio, Kerrville, Fair Oaks Ranch, Comfort, Fredericksburg, Bulverde & Spring Branch & New Braunfels.