A Shock To The System
Coronavirus Brings Residential Real Estate Market To a Halt
The military has long had an acronym perfectly describing the past month: SNAFU. The PG version is “Situation Normal, All Fouled Up.” Everything was fine until quite quickly, it wasn’t.
In Texas, we were seeing strong home sales, great revenue and job growth, and Ft. Worth poised for a population boom.
Sadly, that now seems like ancient history. Dallas is poised to go to a “shelter in place” status tonight at midnight. Ft. Worth may soon follow suit.
While commercial real estate may never stop, residential is already showing signs the brakes are on big time. Several different real estate sources of mine have mentioned all pending residential contracts have gone up in smoke over the past few weeks.
While folks are hunkering down, strategizing, and knowing this will end at some point, many are trying to keep afloat, and are not taking on any additional risk or expenses right now.
If people have a house on the market right now, they may be waiting a while to sell. Even with discounting a price that made sense a month ago, homes may take months to sell. It may be worth contacting the We Buy Ugly Houses people if you need to sell a home quickly.
It’s no all grim for Ft. Worth, as it was recently listed as a top luxury home market to watch for 2020. Yes, Ft. Worth often gets second billing being Dallas, but there is less reason for that to be the case with a revamped downtown area and a more affordable luxury home market. Cowtown looks set to make a good rebound once things head back to normal.
