HANCOCK COUNTY — People will always need houses and cars, but purchasing those big-ticket items has taken a hit as the economy tanks and buyers have essentially been told to stay home.
According to Gov. Eric Holcomb’s stay-at-home order, which took effect on Wednesday, March 25, both real estate and automotive sales and service are included under the list of essential services that are allowed to continue, while other, non-essential businesses are forced to close.
“We will be open with limited hours, with a skeleton staff by appointment, and servicing emergency automotive needs,” said Nick Dellen, owner of Dellen Automotive Group in Greenfield.
Like Dellen and other auto dealers, local Realtors know their business will take a hit due to the state-mandated orders to stay home.
Many buyers are canceling appointments to postpone the home-search process, while sellers are canceling showings out of concern for having people in their homes.
Realtors are increasingly moving toward virtual home tours — like online video tours, and even walking through homes while FaceTiming clients — rather than physically showing them properties.
“It’s certainly changing the way we all do business for the moment,” said Greenfield Realtor Rita Fish, who has reported a drop in business since the pandemic started.
Springtime is traditionally one of the busiest times of year for real estate sales, “but right now people are a little gun-shy to get out there and look at properties, out of concern for both their health and their finances,” said Fish, co-owner of Ben & Rita Realty Group, an F.C. Tucker Company.
“The housing market is going to take a hit in the immediate future, but it will rebound. It always does. People have to have a place to live,” she said earlier this week.
Jeff Clark, a Realtor with RE/MAX Realty Group in Greenfield, said he and his colleagues are looking to the Indiana Association of Realtors for the latest updates regarding the coronavirus and how it impacts their business.
“As of the end of the day Monday (March 23), they were saying that we are an essential business, and that as long as financial institutions are open and wiring money, we will be conducting business,” he said.
Additional precautions are being put into place to keep buyers, sellers and real estate agents safe, he said.
That includes having only essential people in one room at the time of closing, with buyers and sellers signing the required documents at different times.
Whereas some offices used to provide a basket of pens and reading glasses, they’re now offering pens to each individual to take home with them when they’re done, Fish said.
She now makes sure to wipe down the key lockboxes and door handles whenever she shows a home, both before and after, and she turns light switches off and on using her sleeve.
“I try to touch as little as I can whenever I’m in a home,” said Fish, who has also done away with shaking hands. “You just kind of wave and say hello instead,” she said.
Rick Daves, with Front Porch Real Estate, said that as state-mandated “social distancing” continues, he anticipates that clients will turn to virtual online tours and video walkthroughs of homes.
“I’m getting ready to go show an out-of-town client a house on FaceTime later today,” he said earlier this week.
Daves said that while overall traffic in his office has declined, the real estate market will soldier on.
“Buyers are still looking and sellers are still selling. Hopefully, this is just a short-term thing and things will get back to normal,” he said.
That’s the hope of local car dealers.
“Service is considered essential so we can keep folks’ cars running, so people can get to work and to the grocery and to the hospital when they need to,” Dellen said.
He said the service bays have stayed busy at his dealership, where employees make sure to wipe down door handles and other surfaces multiple times each day.
The service department is also busy at Inskeep Ford in Greenfield, where owner Jeff Inskeep is scheduling a limited crew to keep cars running. Sixteen customers had confirmed appointments for service on Tuesday, March 24.
Sales have been lagging at both the Inskeep and Dellen dealerships over the past few weeks.
“Our sales are down probably 30% to 40% below average,” Dellen said last week.
The car dealer has been offering manufacturer incentives like 0% percent financing over 84 months on some new vehicles, which is typically unheard of, he said.
Renée Rupley, marketing director at Greenfield Banking Co., said fast-changing markets have caused a lot of fluctuation in mortgage rates, but haven’t really affected auto loans.
Dellen knows firsthand how hard a recession can hit the automotive industry. He took over the business from his father at the end of 2008, as the last American recession gripped the country and stalled buying nationwide.
“It’s an interesting time, but we’ve been through similar times as far as the economy goes,” said Dellen.
In 2008, “we tried to cut back expenses so we could take care of our employees, which pays dividends later, and it’s very similar right now. We’ll keep taking it one day at a time and keep pushing through,” he said.
Clark also remains optimistic about the real estate market.
On Tuesday, he said all the clients he’d been working with had been understanding about the necessary changes to how business was done.
“I really think people’s expectations and their demeanor have been great. People have been rolling with the punches and are keeping a level head,” he said.
