Life has changed for local real estate agents, as it has for everyone during the coronavirus crisis, but they are feeling positive about Blanco’s housing market despite a strained inventory.

Candy Cargill, owner of Hill County Real Estate, has seen hard times during her 34 years as an agent.

“All hard times in real estate are only as hard as you make them,” she said. “I entered real estate during the oil bust of the 1980s that trickled down to every industry, including real estate. Foreclosures were everywhere. I remember stacks of them lining the Travis County Courthouse. Compared to that, in my humble opinion, COVID-19 has been a hiccup for the real estate industry.”

Another local real estate agent, Jayne Lightfoot with RE/MAX Genesis in Blanco, said that COVID-19 has not slowed business.

“The slowest market was in 2008-2011,” she said. “We’ve been blessed with a strong active market for the past six years.”

There have been some effects seen on a statewide level, however.

According to Texas REALTORS®, a professional membership organization, shelter-in-place orders “caused the number of home sales across Texas to decline in the second quarter of 2020, while median price increased.”

Statewide, home sales declined by almost 10 percent in the second quarter of 2020 while the median price increased by almost 3 percent to $252,000, according to the organization.

Changes at the office

At the beginning, COVID-19 created an “appointment-only” arrangement for Hill County Real Estate, and RE/MAX was closed for two weeks while agents worked from home.

“One of the happiest days I had was turning over the OPEN sign and unlocking the door,” Cargill said.

Agents are taking precautions and have masks and hand sanitizer readily available.

“We’re doing fist bumps rather than handshakes,” Cargill said. “I’m seeing people being careful by taking responsibility of their space and not wanting to get into yours. A regular transaction may take a little more time, but as long as everyone stays on the same page and communicates, it’s all good.”

Positive outcomes may arise from challenging situations.

“One positive by-product is that many of us have been forced into learning new technology. We’re also furthering our education,” Cargill said. “I never missed a day in the office.”

Challenges and solutions

The only hurdle that has arisen is a strain on inventory in Texas, but even that is a continuation of a trend that had been happening across the state for a few years.

“The biggest reason for the lack of inventory is that Texas has approximately 1,500 people per day moving to the state,” Cargill said. “That’s hard to keep up with.”

She explained that three factors affect home sales: job growth, cheap mortgage money and home price appreciation.

“Our job growth across Texas has been great. These are the lowest mortgage rates I’ve ever seen. Homes are appreciating because of the lack of inventory,” Cargill said.

Lightfoot said she is seeing a reduced inventory even though the market is active and productive.

“I don’t know if this is a result of COVID-19, with sellers anxious about having people into their homes; or if it’s because the market is flourishing and in Blanco and we just don’t have the abundance of properties that more urban developments are able to list and sell.”

She said that market inventory is impacted most by new housing.

“My opinion is that an increase in housing is coming, which will give us more inventory,” Lightfoot.

Cargill is not seeing a housing shortage in Blanco, but she is noticing that homes aren’t lingering on the market.

“People from cities may be looking for wide-open spaces and places like Blanco where they can find a home and not be so close to their neighbor,” Cargill said. “It’s pretty obvious that Blanco is growing. With controlled growth we’ll keep the Spirit of Blanco alive and well.”

Lightfoot also has a bright outlook.

“Blanco is a thriving, desirable community for retirees and families,” she said. “Blanco really offers the best of real estate, with a small-town, friendly atmosphere but we still have shopping, health care facilities and entertainment within an hour in any direction.”