No one saw it coming and it came out of nowhere with force and speed that spread like wildfire. On March 13th I was enjoying the waves and beach of S Padre Island and a few days later, I came home to long lines outside of HEB. Those long lines lead to aisles of empty shelving where basic items such as toilet paper, napkins, wipes, non-perishables such as pasta, rice and beans used to be and now were nonexistent. As days went by more everyday items were being added to this now unattainable sought-after list. This included cleaning supplies, meat, milk and eggs. Coronavirus (COVID -19) was to blame and became 2020’s new threat to humanity. Covid-19 ruined spring break for most and that was just the least of our worries. This new highly contagious virus had traveled around the world within a few weeks. It caused physical and financial chaos, confusion and most importantly loss of life.
According to website ourworldindata.org; as of April 19, 2020, the United States leads with a death toll of 38,910 and Italy right behind us with 23,227. These numbers are astonishing, worrisome and to say the least, this virus has changed the way we live our life. Locally, San Antonio practically shut down after our Mayor mandated the “We Stay home and Stay safe” order. No more going to happy hours or getting dinner, meeting up with friends and family and no more movies with popcorn and nachos. We need to stay home and work, home school our kids and stay safe. Only essential workers were to be out on the roads to keep our city and economy moving forward. This is where we as Realtors® come in and do what we do best. We are considered essential, alongside other jobs and services. To name a few:
• Gas stations, auto supply stores, auto repair shops and related facilities
• Grocery stores, farmers markets, food banks and convenience stores
• Healthcare providers, hospitals, clinics and healthcare operations including research and laboratory services, medical wholesale and distribution, dentists and Pharmacies
• Restaurants (only for delivery, takeout and drive-thru)
• Hardware stores and plumbers
• Contractors and other tradesmen, appliance repair
• Exterminators and other service providers
• Banks and related financial institutions including insurance and accounting services
• Businesses that provide shelter and/or social services
During this chaos, people are still needing our services. People are still moving, buying, selling and renting. Although we do have to change the way we now conduct business, we’re still moving forward and I can see from my friends and associates in the business, that we’re finding creative ways to adjust and are becoming very innovative to proceed with
business as usual but with more caution. The new norm includes Zoom- video conferencing for office meetings, educational classes, listing and buyer consultations and now the occasional happy hour. Face masks now being worn in public, no handshaking with our clients and for some even mandatory shoe booties and hand sanitizer galore. Property Managers have also had to tweak their business models. As some of you have heard, the city placed an emergency ban on evictions for about 120 days making it somewhat unnerving for property managers and owners. Most of us already have a close relationship with our owners and now had to further extend our services to include an even more personal one on one communication. Some of us reached out to make sure our owners and tenants were ok and gave as many resources as possible in case a tenant couldn’t pay rent on time or at all. We’ve had to work with some tenants and agree to payment plans all to try to alleviate the confusion and tension.
My Aha moment during this time has been that Realtors® are resilient. We stand together, we motivate, we nurture, we overcome and most importantly we love what we do, and it shows.
Thank you to everyone in the industry that has come together to share their knowledge and ideas of how to continue to run our businesses during this trying time. A heartfelt thanks especially to organizations such as NARPM, SAMAC. They quickly sprang into action to find as many invaluable property management resources from attorneys, community leaders and industry vendors to ease the uncertainty.
Times like this reminds me that I’m proud to be a Realtor® and that we will get through this together. I look forward to the next happy hour, where we’ll shake hands or maybe even hug and spend valuable face to face time again.
