HOUSE & home REAL ESTATE SHOWCASE
Sonoma Countyās Spring 2020 Market
Local real estate market facing unprecedented times PHOTOāROLLIEāATKINSON
NEW SHELTER, NEW PLACE ā SonomaāCountyāsāneedāforāmoreāhousingāisāanotherāvictimāofātheāCOVID-19āpandemicāandācurrentāpublicāhealthāemergency.āEventuallyāprojects likeāPortello,ālocatedāināWindsor,āwillāreturnātoāanāactiveāmarket.āThisāprojectāwillāincludeā89āhomesāwithānineādifferentāfloorāplansāināaāwideāchoiceāofāprices.āForāaāvirtual tour,āvisitāJKBWINDSOR.COM. has been conducted in āvirtualā communications remodel experts like LEFF Construction report a for decades. Itās not business as usual, by any fair volume of client talks and planning. What means, but the biggest thing missing right now is better motivation is there than to be cooped up the personal handshakes at the end of a closed with extra time to survey existing ļ¬oorplans and deal. begin to wonder, āwhat if ?ā Sonoma County properties are part of the Elaine Lucia, marketing director for LEFF Construction said the staļ¬ is staying connected national and international market where By Rollie Atkinson with lots of ZOOM meetings and conference calls. investments also include business acquisitions, Sonoma West Staļ¬ āThe most important aspect for safely keeping the bond investments and stock market trading. business going, our employees working, and our When all those investment opportunities ļ¬ll up ow do you buy or sell a house when with uncertainty and volatility, lots of people turn clients serviced is constant communication,ā she everyone is under orders to āshelter in to the security of real estate. said. āI honestly donāt think our team has felt placeā to avoid personal contact during the There were 208 individual home sales recorded closer together than we are now as we go through public health emergency from the COVID-19 in January, just before the caronavirus news his crisis.ā Before the pandemic alerts, local pandemic? This crisis is having multiple impacts began hitting the front page of local newspapers. builders already were in emergency status, on all individuals, households, local businesses catching up from projects impacted from the two Selling prices remained stable and the median and industries but consider being a real estate wildļ¬res in 2017 and 2019, plus the demand housing price was $662,500, according to local professional where the market is basically oļ¬everywhere to build new housing units to address MLS surveys. limits to everyone. Californiaās housing shortage and aļ¬ordability It also seems that people shuttered in their As it turns out, there was the usual amount of homes are ļ¬oating ideas about future home problems. mid-winter transaction being settled and recorded improvement projects and property prior to the March 17 order to āshelter in place.ā enhancements. Several general contractors and See Market Page 4 And, a big portion of todayās real estate industry
COVID-19 pandemic is limiting activity and transactions
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