By Jondi Gumz
Real estate statistics for March — a median price of $925,000 for 102 home sales in Santa Cruz County — reflect the pre-COVID-19 world, according to Gary Gangnes of Real Options Realty, who tracks the numbers.
Gangnes said all of the March closings were in contract prior to the March 16 “shelter in place” order.
The median price, the midpoint of what sold during the month, was the highest in 10 months but some sellers dropped asking prices, signs of a slowing market.
In Scotts Valley, a five-bedroom home on Whispering Pines Drive, listed for $1.1 million in 2016, sold in March for $920,000, close to the median. A 617-square-foot cottage on East Zayante Road in Zayante was listed for $419,000 in July and sold in March for $368,000.
April’s data will reflect the impact of COVID-19, according to Paul Bailey, co-owner with his brother Robert Bailey of Bailey Properties, one of the larger locally owned real estate companies with offices in Aptos, Santa Cruz and Scotts Valley.
“Our business will never be the same,” Paul Bailey said. “This is going to leave fingerprints that will change our business forever.”
He estimates home sales are down by 50 percent.
Google Meetings
Agents at Bailey Properties are independent contractors. They work out of their own homes — they don’t come into the office now. To connect with fellow agents, they use Google Meet or Google Hangouts.
On Tuesday, Paul Bailey said, “We had 80 agents this morning in our office meeting.”
Bailey, who has 44 years in real estate, predicts real estate companies will no longer need big offices.
“You’re not going to need bricks and mortar,” he said.
Open houses have not been allowed, so agents show vacant homes.
Paul Bailey
Robert Bailey
Agents and clients arrive in separate cars at a home for sale. With the seller’s approval, the prospective buyer can enter, wearing a mask, gloves, booties and bringing wipes.
If buyers haven’t brought their own protective gear, Bailey Properties agents provide their supplies ready.
Agents wait outside while the buyers go in. All the paperwork is handled electronically.
Bailey said he has a client in the Bay Area, who has to be out of his home May 1, and he wants to lease in Aptos for three months or more.
His son Joe, a CSU Long Beach grad who joined the family business, is helping a young couple interested in buying a townhome. The couple is getting married, and parents are helping with the purchase.
Another set of parents wants to buy a home for their daughter, who teaches in Watsonville.
“Life doesn’t stop — for anything,” Bailey said.
Zoom Tours
In a recent situation, agent Scott Cheney stayed outside as the would-be sellers, living in their home, gave the would-be buyers a 90-minute virtual tour via the Zoom app on an iPad, answering questions as they came up.
Paul (left) and Robert Bailey keep their masks on at the office.
The buyers had already seen all the photos online and the entry advisory disclosure forms.
“An hour-and-half walk-through and then they wrote an offer,” Bailey said.
A homeowner who wants to sell created his own video to show off the home, and agent Millou Rose did a voice-over and added Bailey Properties branding. This kind of promotion can now appear on MLSListings.com, a popular platform in Santa Cruz County.
“We’re leveraging technology that was already there,” said Robert Bailey.
A big part of Bailey Properties is rentals, and Paul Bailey predicts more people in the San Francisco Bay Area will want to drive to Santa Cruz for a vacation rather than get on an airplane.
“Vacation rentals, it’s a huge part of our economy,” he said. “Hamburger stands, liquor stores, the Boardwalk. I think we are going to be a destination resort again.”
He foresees fewer buses taking commuters over the hill to tech companies such as Facebook and Apple, which allowed employees to work at home because of COVID-19.
“That industry is learning it is OK for people to live in Santa Cruz and work from home,” he said. “It may really affect traffic.”
“College courses may never be the same,” he said. “Do colleges need all the bricks and mortar?”
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SINGLE FAMILY HOMES
- Median price: $925,000 ($925,000 a year ago)
- Sales: 102 (121 a year ago)
- Listings: 330 (393 a year ago)
- Average price: $980,280 ($982,398 a year ago)
- Unsold inventory index: 3.2 months (3.2 months a year ago)
CONDOS
- Median price: $595,750 ($560,000)
- Sales: 30 (39 a year ago)
- Listings: 104 (101 a year ago)
- Average price: $601,401 ($592,170 a year ago)
- Unsold inventory index: 3.5 mo. (2.6 months)
HIGHEST
- 400 Brooktree Ranch Rd., Aptos: $1.915 m
- 25023 Soquel San Jose Rd., Los Gatos: $1.83 m
- 1001 Pau Hana Dr., Soquel: $1.76 m
- 419 Beach Dr., Rio Del Mar: $1.745 m
- 2664 Placer St., Live Oak: $1.73 m
CLOSE TO MEDIAN
- 970 Whispering Pines Dr, Scotts Valley: $920,000
- 1207 Dazzle Ln, Capitola: $925,000
- 240 Middleton Dr, Boulder Creek: $925,000
- 409 Pioneer Ln, Scotts Valley: $925,000
- 3346 Fairway Dr, Soquel: $930,000
- 660 Wild Iris Ln, Bonny Doon: $930,000
LOWEST
- 10816 Visitar St., Lompico: $333,000
- 9540 E. Zayante Road, Zayante: $368,000
- 611 Bridge St., Watsonville: $390,000
- 1395 Dundee Ave., Ben Lomond: $400,000
- 649 Pippin Lane, Watsonville: $415,000
Source: Real Options Realty