LASTING CHANGE

Last week, we wrote about the region entering Phase 3 of reopening and in particular the ability to host public open houses again.  Our opinion was and remains that it is too early and too risky to be hosting public events like open houses, and that our brokerage would not be conducting them for the foreseeable future. 

Since then, we have conducted a poll on our web page and social media pages. We asked people if they would attend a public open house.  Among our blog readers, 94% responded that they would not attend open houses, and 68% of our social media followers agreed.

We then asked, “Would you allow an open house in your own home?”.  100% of our blog respondents, and 85% of our social media respondents indicated they would not want an open house hosted in their home.

Pretty overwhelming and clear messages from the public. This is a responsible and logical response to the current pandemic conditions. Although I did expect more pushback from colleagues and the public, it didn’t really materialise.

I’m of the opinion that the public open house, as the major tool Realtors will use to expose a home to the marketplace, is a thing of the past. The pandemic has done what no amount of technology has been able to do – it has forced a change in how we market homes.

Homeowners are now aware of the risks involved with allowing strangers to wander through their homes.  In the past, owners have been reluctant to host open houses due to security issues. Realtors have found it difficult to get visitors to sign in or at least provide legitimate contact information.  Add on the health concerns about asymptomatic transmission of the coronavirus and I think most homeowners and Realtors will keep a wide berth from public open houses. They may not disappear overnight, but the days are certainly numbered, and the value of the public open house has severely diminished as an effective marketing tool. 

The availability of virtual staging, 3D video tours, HD photos and live-streaming open houses not only provides homeowners peace of mind and security, it allows consumers to view homes at their convenience.  I’m amazed at the number of people that register on our website between the hours of midnight and 6am. Given our busy 24/7, world it makes sense that people are viewing homes at 2am!  

Brokerages and Realtors that can deliver to consumers real estate content on-demand will be in high demand as we continue to deal with COVID-19 for the foreseeable future.

Change is often difficult, and people tend to be reluctant to change unless pushed or disrupted.  I think it’s fair to say that our lives have all been disrupted lately, and now is the perfect time to pivot to a safer and better ways of living our daily lives – and that includes the way we view homes.

With the introduction of Phase 3, we spent the week revisiting our brokerage’s policies and procedures. Like many industries, we’ve shifted from the perspective of ‘temporary changes’ to ‘the new way of doing business’. You can take a look at our Brokerage Guidelines and our new Guide to Buying and Selling, where we outline the specific changes we’ve made to home buying and selling protocols.

ANOTHER INCREDIBLE WEEK IN THE GUELPH REAL ESTATE MARKET

Setting the stage – this week in 2019 we reported 50 homes changing hands, going back to 2018 we reported 56 homes sold, and in 2017 we saw 58 sales.

Today we’re reporting 69 homes had sold signs installed on their lawns this past week! A 38% increase over last year and a 19% increase over the results in 2017, which was the last time the market seemed this insane.

The median home sold this past week was a 3 bedroom, 2 bath 1,430 sqft home that sold for $597,000 or $405.06/sqft.  This week’s home took 13 days to sell and homeowners were getting 100% of their original list price.  58% of the homes sold this past week sold at or above list price.  We have never witnessed a period like June and July, where the market was so solidly a seller’s market. Then again, it seems like every week has been bringing new experiences to everyone’s life since March.

Thanks for reading.  

Q2 HOUSING MARKET REPORTS – NOW AVAILABLE

Reports for June and the 2nd Quarter, plus two special reports that take an in-depth look at how the pandemic as affected our local market

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Featured Property

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Elora, ON
3 BED / 2.5 BATH / 3,545 SQ FT

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(519) 766-7861 / (519) 546-2314

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