South Florida Opens Up
Happy Sunday,
South Florida opens up and I am at an open house at 630 Isle of Palms – so I’m working in between visitors. Just 2 so far.
If you’ve been driving around you know that there are lots and lots of people out and about. With the “opening up” of the entire region tomorrow we should expect the real estate business to also pick up. For more than 2 months most people have been following the rules and mostly sheltering in place. I think a lot of them are ready to get out and go to restaurants and to start looking at, and maybe buying some homes too. I drove down Las Olas last night and most of the restaurants/bars were open and serving drinks (and it looked like food too) on the sidewalks. There were literally hundreds of people taking advantage of the great weather and the opportunity to get out of the house. The Floridian has set up their outside tables and will be open for business tomorrow, and I expect most of the restaurants on Las Olas (and elsewhere) will to. We are also hearing that more of the condominium buildings will start to allow realtors to show apartments now too. Time to check your listings and talk to your customers.
Our first “named” storm hit us this week – remember the rain on Monday/Tuesday? That was Arthur before he had a name. When Arthur went by South Florida he was not only nameless he was not a hurricane, not a tropical storm or even a tropical depression, just a “disturbance”. He is long gone and might make it rain in the Carolinas and Virginia.
Looking for something to tell buyers and sellers? Here is an email from one of our California partners telling customers why Los Angeles is so much better than New York. Ok, they do have mountains and we don’t, but we have everything else and unlike L.A., which is still closed and will be closed at least through July (and probably later), we are open!
WHERE DO OUR BUYERS COME FROM?
Now that our airports are nearly empty, where will our buyers come from? Surprisingly, the overwhelming percentage of our buyers over the past several years have been locals. People who are moving up, moving down, buying condos, or parents buying homes for their children make up the bulk of our buyer pool and we have not lost them.
In fact, we fully expect that beyond these local buyers we will have new buyers coming from the East Coast when travel opens up. New York is so congested that they had to build upwards to accommodate the growing population, while the vast majority Los Angeles is composed of horizontal living. Many people have become fearful of high-rise living and overcrowded streets and offices. Just look at the NYC death statistics, which are so very sad, versus the death statistics in Beverly Hills, Sunset Strip, Bel Air, Brentwood, Palisades, Malibu, which are in the 100’s. The bottom line is that with COVID-19 it’s just safer here.
Given Los Angeles’ weather, our proximity to the ocean, mountains, and the newly underscored importance of remaining healthy, people have and will continue to buy houses here. My advice is to find the one that fits you and make the best deal possible. All things will pass and COVID-19 will as well. Be healthy and stay safe,
What else is opening up? The Bundesliga (German football/soccer league) has restarted it’s schedule. Who knows, maybe basketball, hockey and baseball may start playing games here too!
New Listing – 2710 NE 18th Street in Coral Ridge. The perfect east side/beach house for your west side customer. Surrounded by large recently built homes this is a smaller home with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths on 100 feet of waterfront with south exposure to the water. Great for boaters or someone looking to build a new home too. Asking $1,250,000.
Wise sayings? – who said this: “Sometimes it’s not enough to know what things mean, sometimes you have to know what things don’t mean.”