Believe it or not, homebuying during Covid is actually happening.
I know this because I recently helped an out of state friend find a new home. Naturally, I agreed to help because when you know someone needs help, and you CAN help, you DO help.
They aren’t even the only person I know who moved recently. That said, moving within in a city where you currently live is a very different situation than say, conducting an out of state search in absentia.
In order to help this friend, I (safely) toured homes, scouted out neighborhoods, and took detailed video tours so he could experience the property as though he was there in person.
As you can imagine, the amount of inventory right now is relatively limited. Therefore, pricing on a small number of transactions may not be broadly indicative of trends.
In most cases, people moving into a new home right now are doing so because of life reasons that can’t wait, as was my friend’s situation.
Some people have found a new job located elsewhere, knowing that we won’t be working remote forever. And others are moving to be closer to family, knowing that they’d eventually be co-located anyways.
Among the homes that I toured some were already vacant, which makes touring them much easier and safer. But for those that are currently occupied, you can believe that there is some amount of uneasiness among both parties involved.
From my own experience, I can tell you that between the face masks, rubber gloves, and narrating a video documenting minute details, it felt more like a starring role in Bosch or CSI: Miami, and a lot less like Property Brothers.
In some cases, buyers (and even their brokers) are buying homes in which they’ve never set foot.
As you might have assumed, house hunting is well outside the scope of how I help my financial advisory clients. But it does draw a strong parallel to how I help my clients, which is this…
Just like the friend I was helping with his home search, in a time of need, my clients have someone they know and trust, who can quickly intervene on their behalf.
This is critical because we know that some things in life won’t wait until we feel we’re ready or when the situation is perfect.
That’s why it’s so valuable to have resources in place that you know that you can rely on.
If you’d like to clear your plate, or perhaps you’d like a second opinion on your investments, let’s talk.
This blog was written by Jeremy Bohne, Principal & Founder of Paceline Wealth Management. Paceline is a fee-only investment advisor serving clients in the Boston area, and on a remote basis throughout the country. Paceline specializes in helping tech and biotech executives, physicians, and those seeking financial planning services.