March Real Estate Corner Chelsea

By Michelle Elie, Realtor GRI Charles Reinhart Realtors

Well, not surprising that in addition to the whole world being different since I last wrote this article, the real estate market has changed as well.  There’s no real pattern that can be interpreted by last month’s figures, so I’ll just give you the statistics for your information, then discuss the changes the Corona pandemic has made on the real estate industry.
 
                                                         2020                           2019
Number of new listings                     24                                21
Average list price                        380,922                       345,748
Number of sales                                 18                                 9
Average sale price                       255,917                       297,298
 
Currently, Realtors are considered “non-essential” workers, so therefore we cannot enter a house to either show it or list it.  Our professional photographers can’t enter a home, however home inspectors and appraisers can (with owners approval to do so).  For sellers moving forward, the bottom line is you can’t sell your house if it’s not on the market, and believe it or not, homes are selling with multiple offers using “virtual showings” (video walk-through showings recorded by the sellers and posted on the listings), contingent upon the buyers walking through the house and accepting that the house meets their expectations.
Moving forward for buyers, now is the time to be shopping online for homes and coming up with your shopping list for showings once your agent is able to access homes again.  Now more than ever it’s important to make sure you’re pre-approval letter is up to date and your lender is on stand-by ready for action once the flood gates are lifted and showings begin. 
If you have any questions about all of this, please reach out to your Realtor, or feel free to give me a call.  I believe the term “unprecedented” is used to describe everything right now, and that includes the real estate market.  As with everything else these days…..stay strong, be safe, stay home.
 

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