Covid-19 and Goldman Partners Realty – Still here for you – Now and in the Future!
Everyone at Goldman Partners Realty expresses our sympathies to anyone dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. We hope for full recovery to those affected by the virus directly.
We also want to extend any help we can be to our investor friends through our knowledge, contacts and professional services.
In case you are not yet aware, Knox County has put into effect the Safer At Home Order which closes many businesses starting today then for 14 days starting March 24, 2020.
We have been advised by our real estate association, KAAR, that Real Estate is an excluded business – this means we can continue working, though some individual agents may choose not to. According to the KAAR website, “Housing and rental services may continue, but agents should practice social distancing, hold no open houses, or gather in groups larger than 10.”
WHAT ABOUT GOLDMAN PARTNERS REALTY (GPR)?
As an excluded business, GPR is not required to close. Most of our agents already work remotely and we’ve always had the software and hardware needed for agents and staff to efficiently and securely work remotely while maintaining a central file server. At the present time, the GPR office will remain open and it is operating fairly normally. We feel this is reasonable given the facts today, that we have few visitors and that for those of us in the office, it is easy to stay 6+ feet apart. As with any business, we may make new decisions as the situation changes.
HOW CAN WE HELP YOU?
• If you need referrals, call us! It can be for a plumber, electrician, HVAC, landscaper, bankers, attorneys and so on. Most are still working.
• If you are self-managing your own rental property and don’t want to risk exposure to the COVID-19 coronavirus, we can provide referrals to competent property managers. GPR has a property management division offering services in Knox County but be assured we will always refer you to the vendors we think will be the best fit for you.
STRATEGIES FOR INVESTORS TO CONSIDER
Here are some Investment Real Estate Considerations for these unprecedented times. The following is offered as our thoughts as real estate agents with many years of experience. It is not to be considered legal, accounting, tax or other professional advice. Please contact your other professionals before making any significant decisions.
Rental Property of any kind (Retail, Industrial, Residential Rental, etc.) all now have increased vacancy risk. Depending on layoffs, shut-downs, Federal/State cash assistance and so on, there is a risk that some of your tenants at some point may not be able to pay their rent and other expenses. Depending on your financial ability to weather such as occurrence and for how long, you may want to take time now to consider one of these strategies:
• Avoid losing your tenants. When a tenant leaves, there are typically significant turn-over costs. These cost to you may be higher than the lost rent of allowing the tenant to stay as long as they pay something. Perhaps enter into an agreement whereby you agree to let them stay where some or all of what they don’t pay each month is accrued and due without interest within so many months after this situation is resolved or government payment are received.
• If you are considering selling now for any reason, we urge you to call us to discuss. We may have ideas for you to avoid selling now.
• If you still want to consider selling your property, selling sooner (while your occupancy is high and buyer options are low) may be a better strategy than trying to sell later with possible vacant units and past due tenants.
• GPR has unique capabilities to try to get your property sold while protecting your investment. For example:
• We have investors still contacting us daily looking for opportunities, not just bargains. With thousands of investors from all over the country in our proprietary database, we can quickly present your property in the best light. This database is a big part of our success – our firm consistently sells more small apartments (2-80+ units) than any other firm in the Knoxville Metro Area and beyond. We cover all of east Tennessee. Experience matters! We are quite successful selling other property types, too and also have experienced residential agents as well!
• If you decide to list, our unique database of investors lets you choose an optional strategy where you give us a “pocket listing”. In this situation, you will have us not list your property on the public MLS/Zillow/LoopNet etc. Instead, we’ll present your property to our huge database of investors. Some experienced investors have us do it this way to keep the price and days on market from showing up during uncertain times such as these.
• At this time, there are many 3rd party professionals still working that investors need to get to a closing. We’ve talked with Inspectors, lenders and appraisers who, like us, are still working. They will require social distancing while performing their duties.
• Closings can still (safely) take place – Even before Covid-19, many investors regularly closed from home, overnighting back to the title company; or asking for a private time to close with the Closing Agent which can be in the title company office, or even at the investor’s home or front porch! In fact, one title company is now offering a choice of traditional in-person closings at their office or ours, overnight remote delivery closing and something new, remote online closing. The parties wishing to do this need access to a desktop or laptop computer with a webcam. They are then sent instructions to log in to a secure portal where they digitally sign their closing package in the presence of an online notary. Other title companies are allowing signers to stay in their car and the notary comes out to meet them.
We are still active and successfully getting properties under contract and closed. In the last week, GPR agents…
• put a 10-acre tract under contract at full price for a new apartment development. Buyer and seller are both from out of town and no one had to meet face to face.
• put a 5-unit apartment under contract (and connected the buyer with a lender who has not shut down).
• arranged several showings at a student housing pocket listing (a 6-BR home) in Fort Sanders.
• closed on a multifamily transaction just shy of $1M.
Please contact us with your questions. We look forward to helping you.
Steve Goldman
President
Goldman Partners Realty
If you are currently working with another real estate professional, this is not a solicitation of your business.
