When the state of Hawaii went under ‘shelter in place’ orders in late March due to the rising threat of the Covid-19 pandemic, no one really knew what would happen with the real estate market - but it seemed to be a safe bet that the impact would be quite negative. Up until that point, sales in 2020 had been healthy, with both the number of sales and average sale prices on the Big Island higher than the same period the year before. I had just listed the spec house in Ola Hou Estates that I had been working on for the past nine months at the end of February. My open house on March 1 was very successful - drawing more than 20 groups of people - even in the pouring rain. I felt confident that the house would sell quickly, given all of the positive feedback I had received from everyone who saw it, including my fellow real estate agents who toured it on what turned out to be the last Realtor caravan before the shutdown. I held a second open house on March 15. Even though just two weeks had passed since the first one, things were already different. The term “social distancing” had just been introduced, we made sure to have hand sanitizer on hand, cleaned every surface and door handle thoroughly, and served pre-wrapped snacks instead of my mom’s awesome baked goods. We had a decent turnout, but nothing like the first one - people were starting to get wary about going out. Ten days later, the shelter-in-place order came down from the governor’s office. I had very mixed feelings. On one hand, I felt lucky that I had been able to get the house listed and have a couple of successful marketing opportunities before the shutdown happened. On the other hand, I felt cut off at the knees because, who was going to be buying a brand new house - especially a large, fairly expensive one - with so much uncertainty out there? There wasn’t much I could do except to make the best of it and try to keep a positive attitude. I worked on my digital marketing skills (as outlined in my previous blog post) and just kept plugging away. I participated in a ton of Zoom calls on the state of the real estate business, both locally and nationally. A lot of agents all over the country were worried about how the pandemic would affect sales and ultimately, our livelihoods. I applied for, and received, a PPP loan from the SBA, just in case things went south. Then a funny thing happened - things started selling, and I found myself busier than ever. In fact, I’m on track to have my most successful year so far in real estate. I certainly hadn’t predicted that as a potential outcome at the beginning of all this. And the most exciting bit of news is that the house is in escrow and scheduled to close by the end of July! In talking with others in the real estate business - including agents, escrow officers, and lenders - I found that I’m not the only one who has stayed busy during the pandemic. In my opinion, a few factors that have helped the market stay strong here are:
Whatever the reason, I am so grateful that the dire outcome that many of us were afraid of (both in terms of infection rate and effect on the real estate market) hasn’t come to fruition (so far, knock on wood). I feel truly blessed to live in such a beautiful place where we have plenty of space for social distancing, and the vast majority show their aloha for others by complying with mask-wearing requirements (and not complaining about it). As we see infection numbers rise on the mainland, my only hope is that we can keep our successful track record here going until the Coronavirus threat is extinguished once and for all.
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