A virtual tour; courtesy Arizona Association of REALTORS®
As part of Governor Ducey’s Executive Order “Stay Home, Stay Healthy, Stay Connected” issued in early March, real estate services were deemed an essential service, so REALTORS® in Arizona were allowed to continue to practice. However, most REALTORS are now working from home and those who are still in the office have their offices locked to the public.
Because real estate requires the listing and selling of homes, we have seen some changes. Some sellers have decided to wait to list their homes because they do not feel comfortable with strangers coming into their home, and some buyers are wary of entering occupied homes. However, there are going to be those who still need to sell and those who still need to buy, even in the midst of COVID.
Real estate sales have slowed a bit, but predictions are that sales will boom again once the Stay in Place order is lifted. Because we went into the crisis with low inventory and we will come out of it with low inventory, prices are not predicted to drop.
As far as the impact of supply chain business, the effect is mainly felt by those agents who do vacation rentals and need to supply the homes with paper products
Looking ahead: The use of 360 virtual tours has become very popular, and forward-thinking agents are now using these in their businesses. This is definitely one thing that will change in the future! Sellers will expect it on their listing and buyers will be accustomed to “shopping” for their homes via a virtual tour.
This is one part of the June 2020 cover story on industry impact of COVID-19. To see the full story, click here.
