Real Estate and COVID-19

Hello Friends,

To protect the health of our customers, agents, and communities, we're canceling in-person open houses for all homes listed by Think Real Estate. The sale of real estate will continue but with new practices and new technologies.

We are ready to meet the challenges 
Think Real Estate’s core value has always been service to our community and we plan to continue that tradition by providing safe, responsible options for those who would like to or need to transact during this unprecedented situation. 

Selling your home
Houses will continue to sell during this period, however, the marketing and home viewing procedures will be different. We do not need a hundred people to walk through your home to get it sold: we need the right couple of people to visit your home. How will we do this? Our comprehensive digital-marketing campaign will bring buyers to your home online. Every home will have professional photos, a video tour, and a 3D virtual tour, so that prospective buyers can do their own walk-through of your property from their own home. Your home can be explored by buyers without risk to you or the prospective buyers. We will hold virtual open houses that will allow people to tour your home live online. The tour will be hosted by our agent who will be able to answer buyers’ questions. Serious buyers can then have a one-on-one tour before writing an offer. 

Buying a home
For your safety and that of others, it will be important that we vet each home carefully before visiting it in person together. What does this mean? As we search for the perfect home, we will send you photos, videos, and neighborhood information first so that you can eliminate homes that are not right for you. We will recommend that you drive by the home and take a look at the neighborhood. As we narrow the list, our agents can provide live virtual tours via video chat so that you can take a closer look and have any questions answered. If the home is still a contender, we can set up an in-person tour. We ask that if you are ill or might be ill you stick with virtual tours, and our agents will do the same. We will also practice the 6-foot social distancing rule during all showings.

Things continue to change and we will keep you up to date as they do
Last weekend we held our last live open house for the time being. Over 70 buyers showed up and the home received 12 offers. This is where we are today. Escrows continue to close and new homes are being listed. We will be watching things carefully and updating you on the current trends.

The Los Angeles real estate market
The Los Angeles real estate market has been red hot since the beginning of the year, so much so that the LA Times wrote an article in February saying they believed prices rose 7% in January alone! Our feeling was that some neighborhoods had sales that suggested even more of an increase than that.  The fed seems to want to see the real estate bull market by continuing to lower interest rates. They recently reduced the prime rate to 0% which will have an effect on credit card and HELOC rates and eventually will lower mortgage rates even further.  While nobody has a crystal ball, there are several scenarios that suggest after the Coronavirus pandemic passes, we will still be in a seller’s market or simply a more balanced market since we will still have low-interest rates, a shortage of housing, and a large buyer appetite for the homes that are for sale.
   
We are here to help
As a small business that built our brand on personal and community service, we want you to know we are here for you in these uncertain times. This is a time for all of us to be a community and to take care of one another. Our agents will be using some of their extra time at home to call and reach out to the seniors in their neighborhoods and offer help and support to them. We urge everyone to do what they can to support one another. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out via phone, text or email. 


Be well,
The Think Real Estate Team