I am happy as can be to be back with a weekly update for you, appreciate your being here to read it and for the many kind and encouraging emails so many of you sent during my absence. You deserve an explanation for that absence. On March 10, my husband injured his back, severely compressing his spinal nerve in two places, and within a 3 day period this normally fit and active man was totally bedridden requiring near constant care and in non-relenting excruciating pain. Twice his spinal surgeon had him scheduled for surgery that would totally relieve his pain and return him to normal, but twice those surgeries were cancelled because of state and hospital Covid 19 policies. Finally, Tuesday before last, he was approved for the surgery and I’m happy to report he is recovering well with full mobility and pain free. To say this has been a long, stressful month would certainly be an understatement, but it is behind us now and our lives returning to normal, if the current state of Covid restrictions can be considered “normal”!
I sincerely hope you and your family are holding up ok through all of this. It’s hard to find the words to describe what we’re all facing right now. Lives are filled with uncertainty as millions of people work from home, schools are closed, and once customary practices and personal interactions are no longer considered safe. Like you, I am evaluating personally and as a collective what this all means long and short term. In these unprecedented times, I want to keep you informed and up to date. As you are only too well aware, the response to this virus has turned everything upside down. I am working full time to market properties, but expect activity to be very slow for a while since our typical buyers cannot travel to our area to view properties.
Governor DeSantis has issued a Stay at Home Mandate for all non-essential businesses through April 30. Our beaches remain closed, short-term rentals are banned, and restaurants open for take-out orders only. Real estate and settlement services are deemed by the state to be essential businesses, so while our offices are closed to the public for the safety of our agents and staff, I am still meeting with a few clients and showing property while taking the necessary precautions as outlined by the CDC (Center for Disease Control).
I’m assuming our market is going to be very slow until this virus eases off and restrictions are lifted. Some property owners are beginning to feel the pinch. New listings will hit the market and some sellers may want to cut their price. I want to discourage you from dropping prices during this, as industry reports I’m reading indicate the expectation is for the market to resume again from this point and move forward. There will likely be much pent-up demand. Once we get totally past this virus then I anticipate market conditions to improve greatly. Like you, I am uncertain how long this may last.
For this past week, as expected, we had no closings or new contracts; sellers added seven new listings and changed prices on six others. In my last market update on March 6, our inventory stood at 296, with 90 homes and 206 lots listed for sale in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 Corridor MLS market. Today our total is 304, with 96 homes and 208 lots.
So that wraps up where we are for now. I’m so happy to be back, and hope you will continue to return to read as well. If you’re interested in knowing what’s going on around the Cape, have interest in a particular property, or wondering what your property market value might be, fell free to call or text me at 850-227-5197 or drop a note to [email protected]. Hang in there. We made it through Michael, we will make it through this. Thank you so much for stopping by today.
Reminder – If you would like to read this with the links to the various listings, I can only email them to you now with our new MLS which I’ll be glad to do. Just let me know by sending me a request to [email protected] and I’ll set you up to receive my blog post with the links each week.