It is time for another Southwest Florida market update. It seems everyone I talk to asks how the real estate market is doing during this Coronavirus shutdown. During the last 7 days in Lee County 212 homes came on the market and 301 went pending. 289 closed in the last week.  This tells us that we’re pending and closing more homes than are actually coming on the market.

This also tells us that now is a great time to sell. You have less competition from other sellers, and homes are actually selling. This past week our team held 9 virtual open houses. All open houses received over 200 video views and our best one had 3,300+ people tuning in. You might ask how do we get so many people to view our open houses online. We will answer that later in the story.

As you can see from the graphs, inventory levels were falling pre-Coronavirus. In other words, this is not a new trend. More homes have been selling than what is coming to the market. This was indicative of a strong housing market locally and a strong economy. Given the shutdown, we have no idea what shape the economy is in today. What we do know is the housing market has remained strong.

We have official sales numbers through March, and you can see that 2020 was on pace to eclipse the previous 4 years. Some people feared we would lose closings in March as buyers became fearful of the unknown. That scenario did not play out. The question going forward will be how does the disruption affect the market going forward?

Nobody knows for sure the answer to that. Hopefully answers about when states will open back up and to what degree will become clearer soon.  What we do know is that it is a good time for sellers right now! It’ always more fun to sell when there is less competition from other sellers.

Buyers still need to buy, and when you see low inventory and buyers buying sight unseen, you know it’s a good time to sell.  What will happen when this virus thing is over and all those sellers who did not want to put their home on the market during the pandemic decide to sell?  Sellers will have more competition. It does not mean the market will be bad, it just means it may take longer to sell as they’ll have more competition.

Pricing is still a critical component. The market either accepts or rejects the price, and some sellers will never get that point regardless of if the market is up, down, or sideways. Proper pricing is important.

Back to the question about how we drive so many people to our online open houses. It’s all about the marketing. The Ellis Team are Southwest Florida real estate experts at driving traffic, whether it be old-school like print marketing or cutting edge like targeting buyers. Our brand is wide and our reach is deep because we have a large digital footprint to draw from.

If you are considering putting your home on the market today, you want it sold for top dollar and fast.  You want to limit the in-person showings. The faster we get your home sold for market value, the better it is for everyone. The Ellis Team digital reach can help you achieve that.

If you’d like to get a quick feel for the value of your home, visit www.SWFLhomevalues.com  It you’d like to setup a meeting with Brett or Sande to talk about the market, your home, or your options, we can jump on a video call and talk about it. Simply visit www.Virtual-Listing-Appointment.com and fill out the form, or call 239-489-4042 Ext 4 and ask for Brett or Sande.

If you are thinking of selling, let’s talk about your opportunity today versus waiting and figure out what’s best for you.

Good luck and Happy Selling!

See last week’s article “Virtual Open Houses Sells Homes in a Virtual World”

Check out this weekend’s Virtual Open Houses