Michigan Realtors Doing Virtual Home Tours Amid COVID-19
Michigan (WNEM) -- Despite the governor of Michigan's shelter in place order, relators are still able to sell homes.
While they can't show the properties in person, technology is coming to the rescue.
"People are actually buying houses and it's you know, people thinking hey, we're all under lockdown and no one's doing different things but there are things that are still functioning so people are doing things they've never done before," said Mike Childress, president of Greater Regional Alliance of Realtors.
Under the governor's stay-at-home order, relators are not currently allowed to show properties in-person, but that doesn't mean people have stopped looking at houses altogether.
"As of a month ago, I think a lot of people got a little nervous and we had a lot of people back off, just in the past like, maybe two weeks, I've seen a lot of my buyers come back around," said Ginger Herman, a realtor with Sue Prins Group Five Star Real Estate.
Realtors, like Herman, say thanks to the wonders of modern technology.
Buyers are now touring homes using video call services like Zoom.
"The video walkthroughs have been pretty odd," Herman said. "We have both agents on there and then the shelters basically just walking through with their phone showing the house, but that's kept people around."
She said people have quickly become more comfortable with the idea of virtually touring prospective homes.
"So it's not just okay, we have a Zoom call and nothing's happening about it," Herman said. "We've had a ton of pendings happen. After these Zoom calls, people feel comfortable enough after a seller walks into their house."
These aren't isolated scenarios either.
Childress said the housing market in West Michigan is steadily marching forward.
"From March 14 to April 22 we had 1,032 new listings in the Grand Rapids area, which is, you know, that's a lot of properties really," Childress said.
So while new properties continue to be listed, what does this all mean for prices?
"At this point, it's anecdotal about prices," said Paul Isely, associate dean at Grand Valley State University Seidman College of Business. "But we are hearing that it's not as competitive. And that we've come off of those peak prices that we were starting to see as we were coming into this year."
Long-term things are still up in the air.
"If we really can't get the economy rolling until the end of summer, there's going to be a big downward effect on prices, but it's going to be a transitory effect," Isely said. "As soon as We're able to get out of this recession, which maybe six months, maybe a year, maybe a year and a half. We'll start to see those prices come back and here in West Michigan, they'll come back pretty quickly."
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