Axios.com: Why the Corona Virus is leading Americans to move to the Suburbs

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By: Jennifer A. Kingson

Axios.com

“It’s not just emotional buying, real estate agents say: There are smart and strategic reasons that Americans of all ages, races and incomes are moving away from urban centers.

Why it matters: Bidding wars, frantic plays for a big suburban house with a pool, buying a property sight unseen — they’re all part of Americans’ calculus that our lives and lifestyles have been permanently changed by coronavirus and that we’ll need more space (indoors and out) for the long term.

Driving the news: There’s a gold rush in real estate across the U.S., driven by record-low mortgage rates and the dawning realization that for many of us, our homes are going to be the only place we work and play for the foreseeable future.

  • The trend started in the spring when school was cancelled in many areas, and has gained steam as companies have allowed workers to continue working from home (in some cases, indefinitely) and as question marks have arisen over in-person school this fall.
  • While spacious single-family homes in suburbs and exurbs are in hot demand, apartment rents are falling in places like Manhattan, where landlords are offering deals to entice tenants.

What buyers are looking for: Fresh air, backyards, home offices (for two adults), a homeschooling area, space for pets, home gyms — plus proximity to beaches, lakes, parks and bike paths.

  • “Preferences have moved from ‘what’s a prestigious location?’ to ‘what’s practical?’ and ‘what’s the quality of life we want for our households?'” Anna DeSimone, a housing finance expert who writes guidebooks for consumers and mortgage professionals, tells Axios.
  • Searches on the Compass Real Estate website for houses with pools are up threefold, searches for single-family homes are up 40%, and searches for condominiums and co-ops have decreased, Compass CEO Robert Reffkin told CNBC.

As more people do their grocery and household shopping online, proximity to retail stores is no longer a real estate priority.

  • “We’re not hearing as much around brick-and-mortar, where’s the closest this-or-that,” Kris Lindahl, CEO of a real estate agency in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, tells Axios. “Instead it’s ‘can we get delivery here?'”

Between the lines: Some people are moving because they find that — now that they spend most of their time in the same place with the same people — they are dissatisfied with their current housing.

  • “When you’re spending nine-plus hours a day at home, you’re going to see things differently,” Lindahl says.

By the numbers: Existing home sales rose 20.7% in June over May, and median housing prices rose in every region of the country, according to the National Association of Realtors.

  • Sales growth is particularly pronounced in more affordable regions like the South and the Midwest, Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist, tells Axios.
  • One new trend he identified: “People wanting to buy out in the suburbs and away from city centers.”

Unlike in decades past, the move toward the suburbs does not represent “white flight,” but rather the work-from-home phenomenon, Yun tells Axios.

  • “The people moving to the suburbs are of all races and ethnicities,” Yun said, noting that equal access to housing in all areas is “the law of the land.”

Inventory of available homes for sale — which was low even before the pandemic — has grown even scarcer, to the point that realtors are knocking on the doors of desirable homes and asking the occupants if they’d consider selling.

  • “It’s been nutty for the past couple of weeks,” Andrea Paro, an agent at Compass Real Estate in Bethesda, Md., tells Axios. “I am trying to fasten the seat belt and just ride this.”
  • She recently listed a single family house in Falls Church, Va., and immediately got 64 requests for showings. “I’ll probably get 10 offers,” she says.

Despite the logic in the market, some percentage of buyers are making purchases based on panic or other emotions — and those are the ones who may rue their decisions or find that their homes don’t hold their value.

  • In the New York City area, that can mean that buyers are “paying $50,000 more so they can move out to Connecticut and ride their bike and go to the beach,” DeSimone says.
  • All too often, she says, “When people are making an emotional or hasty decision, that real estate investment is not going to grow.”

https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-suburbs-real-estate-market-3ee9dc49-d3c2-486d-8400-66a6cd1d1856.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosam&stream=top

Trends: Moving to Florida

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By: Amy Snook
Special to the Boca and Delray newspapers

Our world has changed so much in just a few months. For those of us fortunate enough to maintain our health during this crisis, we were forced to manage our lives in a very different manner.

We learned to work from home, we learned to balance home life with work with absolutely no escape for quiet time. We were forced to slow down and even developed some new skills out of necessity. Many of us are now Zoom experts, learned how telehealth works, learned to enhance our cooking, homeschooled our children, learned the importance of human interaction and friendship, and even learned how to workout at home. Buried in all of the sadness and dismay that came with COVID-19 were some very relevant and important life lessons about priorities.

The hope is that we all implement changes to our lives, for the better, and grow as a world moving forward. People in general are evaluating their lives and in particular where they are living their lives. They are looking at how best to protect their families and how best to survive in a catastrophe such as the one(s) we have been experiencing.

It therefore makes perfect sense that people from big cities are evaluating whether to remain living in the city or to move to the suburbs. Quarantine was difficult for everyone but for those of us in warm weather, we were afforded an opportunity to get out often for fresh air, and realized how important this is for our mental and physical well-being. It is not surprising that Realtors’ phones are ringing with Northerners looking to relocate to South Florida.

How do you evaluate where to live in a completely new state? This is where Realtors play an essential role in this relocation process.

Realtors are the homebuyers’ gateway to their new home. It is our job to get to know you and understand the lifestyle that works for you and your family. We need to educate the homeowner on the various cities and what each has to offer. So often we meet a buyer who starts out saying I “must” live near the beach but as we educate them on the options east, they quickly realize that they get much more house for the same price west and there are western communities with an easy, direct route to the beach. You can have it all if you make an informed decision. Looking for a golf club community but don’t want a large equity investment? Realtors can guide you to golf course communities that do not mandate membership making it an option not only for you but for a future buyer should you ever decide to move again.

It is a Realtor’s job to assist you in finding the right community and to protect you as you make your investment.

Providing walk through options for showings without a buyer physically having to be here to physically walk through is more important now than ever. As listing agents, we are adding the 360 tours, which allow potential buyers to “walk through” the home with the use of a mouse guiding the view as you virtually walk through the prospective home. For our buyers, if a particular property we are looking at does not offer at 360 tour – we are resourceful and utilizing technology to virtually walk you through all nooks of the home.

Partnering with the right Realtors is key to relocation.

Amy Snook, a 1990 graduate of the University of Maryland, is a partner in the All About Florida Homes team of Lang Realty, along with co-partner Noreen Payne of Delray Beach. She has been practicing real estate and title insurance for 17 years and is currently the Florida State Vice President for Women’s Council of Realtors. Amy is also a director of the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches and Greater Fort Lauderdale and a director of Florida Realtors. She resides in Atlantis, Florida.