justin & stephen cummings  :::  Re/max select Realty

remax pittsburgh

UPDATE - MAY 6TH 2020 - Allegheny County remains closed until further notice

We hope all is well. We just wanted to reach out to let you know the state of affairs for real estate in Allegheny County.  Last week, the Governor announced that starting May 8th, real estate can continue (with precautions) for counties that are below a threshold for COVID-19.  Unfortunately, Allegheny County is not below that threshold. He did not announce any timeline for the other counties. ​

If you are planning to buy a home:
The re-opening of PA Allegheny County's real estate market will happen quickly.    There will be an influx of new listings, but there are also a lot of buyers who need or very much want to purchase a home.    We predict that there will be multiple offers on properties for at least the first few months while things settle down.   

Suggestions if you are in the market to purchase:

- Be pre-approved for a mortgage.   You do not want to miss out on a house while figuring out your financing.  This will be true when the market opens more than ever.   Interest rates are the lowest we've seen since Justin started in 2005.     We are happy to assist you with this process.   Lending is still very much available, but some of the guidelines have tightened up since the pandemic began.   

- Know your budget and where you want to purchase.    We can assist you with this.

- Have us sign you up for automatic email updates for new listings and price reductions.   

Contact us via email at:

info@thecummingsbrothers.com


What this means for Selling your home (in Allegheny County as of May 6th): 

 
We are still not allowed to have a professional photographer enter the house. 
We are not allowed to meet with Buyers, or Sellers. 
We are not allowed to open doors.  
Many bank appraisers are still not going into homes. 
Home inspectors are not allowed to enter properties for home inspections 

The National Association of Realtors expects there to still be the ongoing problem with inventory. Inventory has been in decline for years, and they do not see it ending. They have predicted  the sale season will extend through the fall with a larger than normal volume between Thanksgiving and the new year. (This is usually a slower period). For Sellers needing to list and sell their homes now, we have fully embraced virtual showings. We have had several sales during the stay at home order (both Buyer and Seller sides). It is a new way of doing things, but it works for those who are on a fixed time schedule. When we are permitted to enter homes and have our photographer take photos, we predict that virtual showings will become more common, even if just to initially screen a home without physically walking through. We have taken steps to learn the technology necessary to make this happen and we are excited to present it to our clients. 

When Allegheny County allows real estate activities again, we expect normal processes to be different. We do not expect open houses to happen.  As listing agents, we are going to do everything that we can to present your home in a way that best represents your home to minimize strangers being inside.  We have worked with our photographer to start doing 360° tours of homes.  With this new technology, we feel the future of real estate sales is going to be more online than ever.  The Cummings Brothers are happy to say that we are prepared to host our listings on Matterport with 360° tours.  

An example of this is Eddie Murphy’s home: https://matterport.com/industries/gallery/eddie-murphy-house

As Sellers, the decision is up to you if you want to list now, or wait until the Governor allows real estate activity. We will reach out the minute that we have a solid date to resume. Ideally, we can have all paperwork done in advance (seller disclosure and listing contracts). We will hopefully be able to have your home on the market within 48 hours of being allowed to resume work. 

Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions on how this pertains to listing your home.  We wish that we had a clear timeline, but it is just guesswork at this point.


Prices and Values:

We can't predict what prices are going to do.   If what what has sold via Zoom virtual tours are any indication, prices have not dropped from where they were a few months ago and Buyers are still shopping.    

There was a major inventory shortage and there still is.   With record unemployment, we do not expect the market to grow like it has for the past decade.   People will continue to need places to live and many sectors of our local economy are still very strong and we hope that local businesses that are currently closed are able to come back so that we can continue supporting them.    Locally and nationally there's already a major decline in markets based on tourism.   Whether it is a condo at a ski resort or a beach house, those values quickly plummeted.   Additionally, investment properties revolving around Airbnb or VRBO have declined.   Many of those owners have reportedly had vacancies and are looking elsewhere for new options.   Whether the owners sell the properties or turn them into regular 12 month leases, this will be a market change.   

If you are struggling to make payments, this could be helpful information: 
https://www.consumerfinance.gov/coronavirus/cares-act-mortgage-forbearance-what-you-need-know/

Be well and reach out if you have any questions or just want to check in and say hello.

​Justin & Stephen
hello@thecummingsbrothers.com