Palos Verdes Real Estate

May 2020 Newsletter

Dear Neighbor:

I’m sure you can use a little humor right now, so here is a little:  you may have heard that the King of Spain has been quarantined on his private jet.  So it is true that the reign in Spain stays mainly on the plane.

It sure is a different world than it was even 45 days ago, isn’t it?  To listen to the news or read the paper, you would think nothing is going on in the world except the Corona virus.  It certainly has been a big disruption in all our lives.  Out here in the real estate business, you can just imagine what it’s like showing houses.  The good news is that the Lookie-Lou’s have disappeared – generally only serious buyers are looking these days, with serious sellers selling.

So . . . as you know, I’ve been admonishing anyone thinking of selling to do it sooner rather than later, as we were in year 11 of a 7 to 10 year cycle.  As I’ve also been saying for years, recessions are almost never predicted, no matter how clear they are in hindsight.  The media always go to the real estate economists for prognostication on real estate.  Those guys are generally paid by the real estate industry, and they provide an optimistic outlook which is good for business.  But recessions generally have different causes than did prior ones, and economists always seem to be looking for signs of what happened last time.  That is definitely true of what is looking like the current one, the 4th I’ve been thru since entering this business in 1984.  As some of you may know, I’m an historian.  One of the truisms of military history is that armies are always preparing the fight the last war.  The reason is the same:  it is very difficult to predict what the next war will be like and nations scramble to deal with it once it is upon them.  So here we are, thrust into a recession by a cause completely out of left field and unexpected, and scrambling to deal with it.  But back to real estate:  if you’re going to buy and sell a house in the same market, the impact of this is minimal.  On the other hand, if prices take a nosedive and your parents have moved to assisted living or passed away, or you are going to retire on the proceeds of your house, you are obviously better off selling sooner than later.  I have the strong feeling that current prices are going to look pretty good a year or two from now.

If you have a vacant house, you have an advantage:  showing houses these days is trickier than it used to be.  Occupied houses require disclosure forms to be signed by all parties before the house can be shown.  The gist of them is that the buyer asserts that he does not have Corona and understands that he could possibly catch it by showing the house.  Masks and gloves are generally required before entry, there can only be so many people in the house at the same time, and there are often other requirements.  In the case of vacant houses, there is generally just a one-page form to sign when viewing.  The good news is that most of the buyers looking these days are serious about it.

I have included one of the articles on Palos Verdes history from my website, www.DanaGraham.com.  I also have a lovely 5 bedroom 4 bath home coming up near Golden Cove.  Give me a call at 310 613-1076 if you’d like to discuss any of the above, and stay healthy.

                                                                                                                                        Sincerely,

                                                                                                                                        Dana H Graham

                                                                                                                                        DRE# 00877973

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 29th, 2020 at 9:16 am and is filed under Buyers, Everything I've Written, Newsletters, Palos Verdes Information, Real Estate General Info, Sellers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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