Annandale Real Estate:  Be Kind in an Unkind Market

By:  Scott Pearson, Pearson Realty
April 2020, ENDEAVOR  News Magazine

There is little to write of which our Annandale residents are not aware when it comes to the coronavirus and the actions or reactions we are all witnessing.  However, to fulfill my obligation to provide relevant information regarding Annandale real estate (some of which may be obvious) here goes.

The entire economy is going to take a severe hit.  I won’t speculate regarding the entire spectacle of the financial fiasco, but one can nearly guarantee that the real estate market will be affected in myriad ways.  Starting with residential property, whether you are a buyer or a seller you will feel the strain.

Consider this, what happens when potential buyers don’t feel safe touring strangers’ homes?  How do you perform an open house when the seller will not leave the safety of their home or are concerned as to whether buyers might be contaminating the seller’s house?  Mortgages might have low interest rates, but did the bank branch close because more than 10 people might be there at one time?  And how comfortable is anyone in making a major financial transaction wholly on line?

You see, it’s not the big things that can pour glue into the housing market, but the series of events that underlie each transaction.  Add to that the economic uncertainty of persons who are waiting to see if they can go to work, earn a living and make mortgage payments.  So what we are dealing with is a disaster of macro and micro proportions.  I would not be surprised to see sanitizing as a precondition to sale.

Another unpleasant consideration is the creation of inventory via death tolls.  For years the supply of homes for sale in Annandale has been very limited due to many reasons, including older persons wishing to age in place.  I hate to bring it up, but there may soon be an increase in inventory for the worst of all possible reasons.

As for the commercial real estate market, there is no good news there either.  Many retail outlets will choose to close or limit the number of customers served at one time.  Restaurants, hotels, wedding venues, gyms, bars and other similar concerns will be the hardest hit.  But this virus will infect the entire economy, not just the obvious victims. 

So what happens to the certainty of rent rolls enjoyed in the past by commercial property owners?  Do we adjust cap rates?  Will landlords offer some rent relief to assist tenants in keeping their businesses’ afloat until the worst has passed? 

So, everywhere one looks the real estate market is wobbly and there may be short term losses of a massive scale when calculated across the Country.  But among the gloom and doom that all sectors of the economy will see, the real estate market has one thing going for it.  Real estate at its core remains one of the safest investment a person can make.  No one ever got “wiped out” entirely because real estate rarely loses all of its value.

Meanwhile, stay safe, be brave but be cautious and remember the greatest threat of all is for us to lose our humanity and capacity for kindness. 

 

Median Sales Price of Annandale Homes
2010     $507,800
2015     $539,900
2019     $615,533
2021     $667,500

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