Have you ever been a landlord? Were your experiences mostly positive or negative? (Please respond and let me know by filling out the reply form in my online column. I want to survey to gather statistics to be reported in the future. If you are still a landlord, how did you handle not receiving your monthly rent during the COVID-19 pandemic? Did you apply via your tenant or for your employees for any PPP (payroll protection plans), EIDL (economic injury disaster loans), or any landlord programs for reimbursements? If not, why not?
I most definitely applied since my real estate brokerage and all the other 125,000+ Realtors and businesses in NYS were told by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, to cease doing business until further notice. He initiated and signed into law “New York State on Pause.” It was an executive order, a 10-point policy to assure a consistent, stable, and safe environment for everyone.
Here is a brief history of what occurred and affected the crazy market that we have been experiencing. Our industry and others considered non-essential, had to be sequestered and cease working until further notice. My professional opinion was that this was definitely a huge error in judgment by Governor Cuomo. What Realtors always do for the economy is to totally and emphatically support a humongous and myriad number of ancillary industries and services in our consumer expenditures, contributing to 70% of our economy. The fact we were ordered to stop working affected all industries except supermarkets, food, delivery services, utility companies, and transportation.
Real estate sales plummeted for a short period, and the greatest exodus of consumers in modern times occurred in major and even minor cities. They began moving away from crowded locations to avoid contact with others. This truly revitalized our industry. I saw the market soften in 2019, after the longest 8-year expansion in real estate history. However, during the Pandemic, the most qualified, credit and income families, individuals, and ready-to-buy consumers began purchasing homes, townhomes, HOAs, condos, and coops in a frenzied and almost insane fashion.
This began the severe reduction in our housing inventory from the normal 6-7 months to the current 3.1 months. With a mindset of fomo, fear of missing out, the overwhelming demand, and the lowest interest rates in history, it became the major factor causing the escalated and skyrocketing double-digit prices and increased values over the next few years. Single-family homes with at least one additional room that could be utilized as a home office became the most popular and valuable entity for sale, which purchasers needed and wanted.
This event seriously affected our housing inventory, creating a historical 50-year low, and was crucial and critical in causing a fragmented and catastrophic supply chain shortage. Consumers hunkered down, working remotely. They began purchasing in significant, monumental, and frenetic numbers online, never seen before.
So we all had to stop working from Sunday, March 22 @ 8 PM until June 10, 2020, when we were legally and finally allowed to return to work. However, before that date, there were those who I knew were still actively conducting business, worrying more and with greater concern and emphasis on earning money than about their or anyone else’s health. They were jeopardizing their health and that of others, with the possibility of infecting others, especially if they were A-symptomatic and didn’t contract the disease but caused others to become sick or, worse, die!
Fast forward, things have returned somewhat to normal, and most landlords are finally getting paid again. Covid is still with us in various ways as it has consistently morphed into new strains, but not as dangerous as the original. The death rate is nothing close to what we experienced in 2020. Real Estate in the commercial office space has been severely affected and may never be the same again, as many people are working part remotely and a partial return to their workplace.
Next year, we will celebrate the 250th anniversary of our Independence from England. The next 4 years could be a critical and crucial determining factor in our success or the potential of becoming more mediocre on the world stage. Currently, Nato is stronger than it has ever been, since the war in the Ukraine began. Could our reserve currency play second fiddle to the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and now Africa) who have begun purchasing their oil with their currencies, putting a tiny bit of pressure on our dollar, although, at the moment, our dollar is still very strong?
We all must bury the hatchet, learn from the past, begin to get along once again, forge ahead, and press on to be the best we can be with empathy, respect, sympathy, and consideration for one another and keep the world’s strongest economy to continue improving and expanding.
Philip A. Raices is the owner/Broker of Turn Key Real Estate at 3 Grace Ave Suite 180 in Great Neck. For a free 15 minute consultation, providing a value analysis of your home, or to answer any of your questions or concerns. He can be reached by cell: (516) 6474289 or by email: Phil@TurnKeyRealEstate.Com or via https://WWW.Li-RealEstate.Com
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