Like it did to everything else in Northeast Florida, Hurricane Irma dealt a significant impact to the residential real estate market.
But, like much else, it will come back, according to real estate professionals who’ve weathered the storms for years.
Bill Watson, founder and chairman of Watson Realty Corp., said the local effects of the hurricane began Sept. 8 for his 1,600 employees in 43 offices in North and Central Florida and South Georgia. That was two days before the storm made landfall in the Florida Keys.
“The first phase is when the hurricane warning comes. When the schools close, that affects your workforce,” he said.
Most Realtors are independent contractors and when schools are closed by an approaching storm, they take care of their children and families, Watson said.
After Irma, it was time to assess the damage on the personal and corporate levels and return to work. For many, that began about 12 hours after the storm left the area.
“We reopened Tuesday at noon. Two agents took clients to see houses and we also closed two contracts on Wednesday,” said Sherry Davidson, co-founder of Davidson Realty, which has offices in Jacksonville Beach and St. Augustine.
Linda Sherrer, CEO and president of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Florida Network Realty, said five of her firm’s eight offices opened Tuesday, followed by the other three on Wednesday when power was restored to those locations.
The first step was to determine if properties had been damaged.
“Our agents started calling all of their listings and all of their buyers,” Sherrer said.
The post-storm phase brings its own challenges that involve title companies and lenders.
Unless a contract was executed, lenders won’t fund the loan until the home is inspected to determine whether the property was damaged. That will probably mean adding about a week or 10 days to the process, Davidson said.
Watson said damage to a property that’s under contract doesn’t necessarily void a sale, provided repairs can be completed within a set time.
“You have 10 days to determine whether the damage is minor and if so, the seller has to notify the buyer,” he said. “If the damage is minor, the seller has 30 days to repair it.”
If the damage is more than what’s considered minor — about 3 percent of the value — the buyer has the option to continue to closing or walk away from the contract, Watson said.
After the initial disruption, the market will return to its previous level, said Sherrer, who has been selling real estate in Northeast Florida through good weather and bad since 1979.
“We’ve got low inventory and low interest rates and demand is very strong. That points to a strong rebound,” she said.
The number of homes that were damaged will make the untouched properties increase in value.
“If you have an undamaged house that’s ready to move in, you’ll be able to bump up the price. There are still plenty of buyers, but not as much inventory,” Watson said.
He also said Hurricane Irma probably will change the market for the next several months.
“We’ll never get the September business back. And it probably won’t be really back in October, but November and December will be better than they should have been.”