Good News During Uncertain Times
We’re a full week into the lockdown here in the greater San Francisco Bay Area! I’m sheltering in place with my wife, two kids, and my brother – and so far, so good. We’re enjoying each other’s company and it’s nice to have the time to spend together. It’s really unfortunate that it comes at the cost of mass unemployment, uncertainty, fear, anxiety and suffering, of course – but for the most part, this too shall pass. The good news for people thinking about buying or selling a home in the area is that the wheels of the business are still turning, albeit much more slowly than before. Banks are still sending out appraisers, lenders are still funding loans, and title companies are still recording new grant deeds and trust deeds. And it’s true that unemployment claims are up 4,000% week over week – which is probably unprecedented…but the Federal Reserve is basically making unlimited cash available to banks and corporations. The fiscal support is there. It seems that the famous “curve” is indeed flattening – while there are of course many new COVID-19 infections around here, the rate of new infections appears to be slowing. Mortgage interest rates for 30 year fixed conforming loans are back solidly under 4% again. I continue to remain optimistic about the real estate market for the back half of the year, at least. No, COVID-19 is not the zombie apocalypse that’s going to forever tank our housing market. We in California have just too much going on – too many amazing people, too much skill, too much infrastructure, too much capital – for something like this to set us back for long. We will thrive, not just survive. That’s us; that’s California.
