THE LATEST
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The world seems to change almost hourly. Things are fluid, as they say. Yesterday I listened to Doug Ford's announcement that stores in Ontario can re-open next Tuesday. I was sitting on my front step looking out at the empty street, wondering if it might rain, and I’ve got to say that right then it seemed a mighty dramatic step. To be honest, I'm still not quite sure how I feel about it. But it does mean, I’m positive, that the real estate world will become instantly much more active. Cheri and I are fielding inquiries almost hourly now.
I will also show a house later today for the first time in a couple of months. It feels odd and hasty in some ways, even alien, but I also know that it’s a necessary part of the recovery and that it’s a manageable meeting.
In short, I’m writing to say that Cheri and I intend to tentatively, carefully, responsibly, make our way back out into the world.
Kingston has been very lucky so far and as I write this, the health unit doesn't know of any active coronavirus cases in the area. In fact, there hasn’t been a new case for more than two weeks. We don't know what that means we can expect in the coming weeks and months (a second wave sounds nearly inevitable), but photographers and virtual tour providers and inspectors, and most realtors, are slowly going back to work. There is a window, is how it feels.
The market was down 70% in April. And we don't think the first half of May will prove much different. But as we move towards June we think you'll see a pretty busy scene out there. Things picked up noticeably this week. And to this point, sale prices have not been affected very much in Kingston at all.
It’s not that we think that business-as-usual is suddenly the way to go. Far from it. But we’ve watched Royal LePage put in place lots of good showing protocols in the last two months. They’ve drawn up health disclosures for both sellers and buyers to sign. There are new clauses specific to this crisis that can be used when putting offers together. And every effort is made to minimize face-to-face contact. Buyers are encouraged to do as much of their shopping as possible online, and not to visit properties in person until they’ve made sure that their criteria are met.
Cheri and I have watched (and endlessly talked about) all these developments from the sidelines, and we feel ready to begin our business again, building on the platforms now in place.
It still strikes us that selling or buying for a lark is the wrong way to go about things. And we are really glad that we shut up shop for the last couple of months. We take seriously the notion that we have a responsibility to each other. And staying home remains the best advice. But many people do have a real need to either buy or sell this year, and we want to be there for them. They waited for us and now it’s time for us to repay some of that trust.
There are those who will think we were foolish to wait so long, and others who will declare us reckless. There is no perfect place to draw that line. All we can say is that we don’t take this lightly. It’s kept me up nights, I can tell you. But anyway. I go on too much. What I want to say is this: Please feel free to get in touch. We’d love to hear from you. And we’d love, once again, to help.
