How We Are Getting Through This...
One month ago I was writing to you during the beginning of the stay in place order due to the Coronavirus. So much was unknown 4 weeks ago. Everyone was nervous wondering what the pandemic was going to do to every part of our lives. To much dismay, we do now see bad effects in our lives and the local, national, and global economy. The question everyone asks me is, how is real estate? So now, here is what we know about real estate in Butte County. 1. People are out looking to purchase homes. If you are wanting to buy a home and you have the finances to do it, you should do it. Sheltering in place all this time has caused a lot of people to really think about where they want to live. And this has reinvigorated a lot of people’s desire to move out of their rental, or small home, their area, or even back into our community. Housing is an essential need and we’re making it work with new guidelines that are working quite well. 2. The value of homes is not crashing. We’re not seeing homes selling for much less than the asking price due to the pandemic. In fact, we are continuing to see many homes get bids over asking. We’re not seeing much change in the number of homes for sale in Chico, and far less homes for sale in surrounding communities. The number of active homes on May 1st 2020 compared to May 1st 2019: • May 2020: 143 Chico, 102 Oroville, 42 Magalia, 22 Paradise • May 2019: 145 Chico, 133 Oroville, 67 Magalia, 50 Paradise Not enough affordable housing is the ongoing crisis pre-existing COVID-19. Also the mortgage market has been built on a much better foundation in the past 10 years. The crisis in 2008 was different due to the lax guidelines for lenders back then and people buying homes and second homes they had no business affording in the first place. The current housing market is not 2008 all over again. I do wonder how the Chico State student population not returning in the fall may increase the supply of rental housing. I could see that being a reason Chico investors might list their rentals for sale. That could be really good as it would add more homes to sell in Chico. That supply would be met with equal demand in my opinion and not cause a market value crash in Chico. On the other hand if investors were able to replace student tenants with non-student tenants, that can be a positive thing to help tip the scales of supply and demand for rentals. In a free market that selfbalancing might keep rent rates low, but with local rent control ordinances, don’t count on landlords not raising rent every 12 months. 3. Now is still a good time to sell property. If you want to sell a home, you should do it. While we are not seeing swarms of buyers at open houses or coming in and out of our real estate offices, the swarms are humming unseen online, viewing video tours and 3D tours and then making appointments for physical tours of a narrowed down list of homes. Buyers that are out touring homes are serious! The time-waster buyers are nearly all sidelined due to the fact that no one, no one, wants to leave home to “just look.” Rules have changed that require home shoppers to really do diligence with a loan officer or provide bank statements so that Realtors and sellers can vet a buyer before arranging to see inside a home. It would always frustrate people when home shoppers didn’t do this diligence in the past. And in my opinion, I really hope this vetting becomes the standard in our service industry and doesn’t go away after the pandemic. Many of you are experiencing different things in life, some changes are good, and some for the worse. I hope we can all hang in there and get through this better and stronger, not just economically but socially and spiritually. The news and internet often portray a county so divided. That’s not at all the world I see with my own eyes. I see people very united. Before the pandemic we shook hands and smiled. At the moment I’m handing out gloves when I meet people at houses, and we look at one another in the eyes to see who is smiling behind face masks. My family is eating more home cooked meals, spending more time together, and hacking away at old to-do lists we couldn’t get to because we were never home enough. I am very hopeful that things will improve for everyone by the time I get to write to you next month.
Dustin Cheatham is a REALTOR® at Century 21 Select Real Estate, since 2015, DRE License #01972561. Dustin gives his clients an exceptional experience, both in home buying and selling. He is committed to staying informed of the daily changing market so that he remains a local expert. Dustin stays ahead of these market trends allowing him to properly market homes and help buyers qualify to purchase them. He’s a Top 7 Producer for C21 Chico, and has earned Top Lister Awards, Quality Service Awards, “Best of Chico” 3rd Place Realtor 2016 & 2017. Contact him at (530) 3556881 or ChicosRealtor@gmail.com DustinSellsRealEstate.com
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