On March 17, The Estridge Group closed our offices to the public and instituted a telework policy in line with the CDC’s social distancing recommendations.

We didn’t stop working. Much like the rest of the country, we cleaned our offices like crazy, put on masks and rubber gloves, and brought our services to your home by leveraging technology such as:

• Virtual showings
• Virtual open houses
• And of course, 24/7 communications through email and phone.

In addition, our settlement teams had to make changes to enable social distancing, and changes they made.

While many mortgage companies paused lending all together, The Estridge Group partners at Prosperity Home Mortgage took action and continued to serve clients from home. They were (and are) able to conduct the entire financing process remotely, and even found a way to do drive-by property appraisals so that homeowners would not be in direct contact with appraisers.

The Estridge Group has worked as a team with our mortgage, title, insurance and moving divisions to get transactions closed, despite all the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has brought.

What does business look like for us?

Thanks to a very resilient DC Metro and Montgomery County real estate market, there are still offers being made. For example, on March 24th, we received four offers for a house in Bethesda Maryland that was listed at $825,000. The house was vacant, which made it easy for people to see. And we did not have a physical open house. As you can see by our chart below, Long & Foster as a whole is still doing good business, even at the height of social distancing and pandemic anxiety.

Where we have seen some roadblocks are for the homes in the $1.5 million and over range. We’ve had houses put on the market that typically would be snapped up within weeks, if not days, that are still on the market. We believe this is because people are hesitant to make that kind of purchase during a time when investments are uncertain or harder to touch.

Should you sell now?

Our opinion at the Estridge Group is, if you don’t have to move now, it’s worth waiting a few months to put your DC Metro home on the market. There will be pent up demand when the economy picks back up. You’ll want to act on buyers renewed interest during that time.

Any more questions?

We’ve had questions pouring in every day, and we’re happy to answer all of them. If you’re nervous, curious, or want to run something by us, we would love to hear from you. Our number is 301-654-9700. Please don’t hesitate.

In the meantime, stay home, and stay healthy.

Sincerely,

The Estridge Group