There’s No Place Like Home
There’s no place like HOME.
[Posted at 11:13 am, Thursday March 19, 2020]
What a tremendous difference a week makes! These are certainly unprecedented conditions for daily life, for our community and city, and for the world. First and foremost, we at Joel Nelson Group urge you to stay safe and protected – for your own family’s health and for that of all those around us. While extreme social distancing is a great challenge, every factual analysis indicates we will ALL be very thankful if each and every one of us is diligent.
Just like you, our team is closely monitoring data regarding the Covid-19 virus and expert guidelines that are evolving daily. In addition and in particular, we’re in constant conversation with our buyer and seller clients and with our network of agents, mortgage lenders, settlement attorneys, and related service providers (repair and renovation contractors, movers, cleaning providers, and many others) throughout the local real estate industry. We want you to know that we are here for you and those you know – via email, phone, text, social media, and more – to answer your questions and share our latest insights, assistance, and strategic advice – regarding your home or your home search!
For now, a brief update on the Washington DC housing market from our vantage:
1. As of this past weekend, we can report that house showing and contract activity remained robust. There are many home buyers prepared to visit houses and to make purchase offers, aware of interest rate benefits and confident in their mission of finding and obtaining the right home for them. A snapshot:
- Across Washington DC:
- There are 541 homes for sale, with 81 newly listed since Friday and a median of 31 days on market.
- There are 630 homes under contract and pending settlement, with 77 contracts executed since Friday.
- On Capitol Hill and surroundings more specifically (Union Market/NoMA, H Street, Kingman Park, Navy Yard):
- There are 73 homes for sale, with 8 newly listed since Friday.
- There are 84 homes under contract/pending settlement, with 15 contracts executed since Friday.
2. We are actively updating the “rules of the road” regarding safely visiting properties that are for sale. Our team has implemented the following policies for now, and will continue to improve and modify those best practices as we learn more:
- We will NOT host/hold public open houses for our listings until further notice – and likely not for at least 8 weeks per the latest CDC guidelines on groups of more than 10 people.
- We ARE scheduling appointments to show available/for sale properties. Please reach out to us to visit a house using the following practices:
- We keep the visitors to a maximum of two adults (no children) at a time
- We request that no client or customer with known virus symptoms in their household attend a showing appointment
- We work to ensure that no homeowners or occupants are present during the property showing
- We keep a safe distance of 6 feet between all clients, customers, homeowners, and agents for the duration of the appointment
- We request that visitors touch nothing inside the property unless absolutely necessary
- We (the showing agent) wipe with disinfectant any surface touched by any visitor during the tour including doorknobs, handrails, counters, and keyboxes.
3. It is of course very early to know about the middle and longer-term impacts on the regional economy, people’s investment assets and savings cushions, and job stability – and the related impact on consumer confidence. However, at a fundamental level we believe the following things:
- The core neighborhoods of Washington DC will remain vibrant, highly desirable places to live and work, and will provide robust job growth in high earning careers (including those in health care research, policy, care and economics).
- Residential mortgage interest rates will be historically low for months to come (if not longer) – stimulating smart purchase decisions.
- Social distancing and self-quarantine have reinforced the tremendous importance of hearth and home to us as individuals and families. We all look forward to resuming wonderful social activities in the future – at this town’s countless great restaurants, concert halls, food markets, parks and much more. However, we may also be left with an enduring appreciation for the space of HOME.
Thanks for reading, and we will stay in touch with future thoughts, observations, and updates as conditions develop. Until then, whether you have a home repair question, want to talk about latest market indicators, or are considering a bigger home, never hesitate to reach out to us!
Peace and wellness,
Joel
Joel Nelson Group, KW Capital Properties
202-243-7707