In real estate, Gig Harbor seller’s market evaporates as buyers stay home
Three weeks ago, Gig Harbor looked like the most incredible seller’s market ever.
With low inventory, low interest rates and endless buyers, Paige Schulte was telling her clients in January, now is the time to sell.
“In January and February, we had the most sales in a decade,” said Schulte, of Windermere Realty.
That was then. Now, Schulte said, the market Is on pause.
“The spring market that everybody was ready for, especially sellers, is now in quarantine,” Schulte said. “It’s on lockdown.”
COVID-19 has had its effect on restaurants, retail stores, and many others businesses Real estate is just one of many sectors affected by the rapidly growing disease.
“Our pending sales and new listings have been cut in half,” said Mike Stewart, a branch manager in Gig Harbor for John L. Scott Real Estate.
After the governor’s initial stay-at-home order, “We had about half the tools we needed in order to operate.,” Steward said. “We couldn’t use our key boxes, we couldn’t show homes. “
Now, the order has been relaxed some. Realtors can show homes again, as long as no more than two people are in the house at the same time. That puts stagers, who set up homes to look attractive, and photographers, who film virtual tours, back into business, too.
Seller’s market takes a hit
On paper, it’s still a seller’s market. At this moment, the inventory is extremely low. There are only 134 active listings in Gig Harbor, even lower than 2019, which once fell to 151 listings.
But the coronavirus shutdown changed everything. The bellwether Multiple Listing Service is showing 30 percent lower activity than last year. April, usually a binge month for buyers, now looks terrible.
“We really have very little to sell, which would mean it would be a great seller’s market, except our buyers have disappeared,” Schulte said.
Lora Johnson has listed her home, on Osprey Driver NW in Canterwood, at $1,090,000.
“We’ve been taking about selling for quite a while,” she said. “We started prepping the house, and just when were getting ready to put it on the market, the coronavirus hit.”
She’s still showing the house, under the new rules, allowing only two people in at a time, and disinfecting every door know and light switch afterwards.
“We had two doctors come through our house yesterday, and they had gloves and masks on,” she said. “Buyers are also taking precautions.”
“It’s been slow as far as showings, we’ve only had three,” she added.
Adopting virtual tools
Like other businesses, realtors have had to adapt in order to continue their work. Schulte, who was named a 2019 Top Four agent in Gig Harbor, said all the smart realtors are now doing virtual tours.
During a virtual tour, buyers can walk through a home as an avatar. They can walk around the area, measure the spaces and room dimensions, and look at the different levels of the home.
Schulte put together on online virtual tour for Lora Johnson, and she was pleased.
“Paige set up a 3D virtual tour, it’s really neat. You can just walk through the entire house on your computer or phone.”
“The thing I added to mine is the outside perspective as well,” Schulte said. “Before, because they would see it in person, you didn’t have to include the neighborhood landscape. Now you can do a virtual tour on the outside as well and give them a look of who their neighbors are, what their street looks like, and let them explore the backyard as well.”
As the crisis lengthens, Schulte said, the homes that look the best virtually will have the advantage in the market. As sellers become better prepared for the online world, virtual tours may become the new normal.
And there’s a bright side for local buyers, Schulte said.
“The local buyers were getting beat out by out-of-state buyers and out-of-state cash, but for the last three weeks those people weren’t able to come here because of the lockdown order,” Schulte said.
Prices not falling, yet
Stewart of John L. Scott said prices have remained stable so far.
“It’s too early to tell if there has been softening in prices,” he said. “There has been some transactions that have fallen apart from either the buyers and sellers side, just from people wanting to step back a little bit, as many are possibly losing their jobs,” he said.
Schulte said many homeowners who do not need to sell immediately, are choosing to keep their current price and wait out the coronavirus crisis.
“The sellers will just wait it out, knowing we are maybe three months away from the other side,” Schulte said.
Melinda Rowan, an airline flight attendant who is trying to sell her son’s house on Tanager Drive NW, said they have refused one low-ball offer for the house, which is listed at $940,000.
“I’m sure they were thinking, ‘Oh, well these people need to move because of the virus they can’t make their payments anymore.’ “she said. “That’s really a bummer because that’s what starts a crash of a market, people preying on other people’s situations.”
Lora Johnson said she and her husband are standing pat. The house has a large yard that takes a lot of upkeep, and they want to downsize, but they have no deadline.
“We will keep it the same price for now, we are not in a hurry. Paige warned us this is taking longer, so we were aware of that beforehand. We will keep it at the same price for a while, then re-evaluate in a few months,” Johnson said.
Houses are still selling, the realtors said, but slowly.
“There are people buying subject to seeing the home,” said Stewart. “Things are moving so fast, so when something comes on the market that is affordable, there are still multiple offers out there.”
“I wrote up an offer the other day for a client who was familiar with the property because they owned another piece of property in that subdivision. They pretty much knew the property, so that’s how that sale happened.”
Schulte said there are buyers out there who are looking for a deal.
“Those deals don’t exist yet, but talk to me in three weeks,” Schulte said.
This story was originally published April 7, 2020 at 12:00 AM.