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Special Report continued

Initial reactions to the pandemic San-Jose can attest to the strength of the luxury market. Her
Uncertainty at the beginning was stressful. “No one knew firm recently sold four multi-million-dollar properties within
what the extent was or how long it would last, and things 60 days at 321 at Water’s Edge. “Buyers wanted larger
pretty much stopped for about two months,” says Brian residences, and they wanted to be somewhere where
Hero, a Broker with One Sotheby’s International Realty. there’s beautiful weather all year,” she says.
“The resiliency of the real estate market came as a surprise.” “People always need housing,” says Broker John D’Angelo
“When I first heard about COVID, I was geared for a of the D”Angelo Realty Group. “Even though many people
really bad year,” says Tara Quailey, a Realtor Associate expected a negative impact to the market and cut back,
with Douglas Elliman Las Olas. “I expected a market my team continued to work and increased our marketing
crash. But it’s been the opposite. I’ve never seen such a efforts with the belief that if we stepped up when the
strong seller’s market in South Florida.” market was expected to be slow, we would see something
positive from continued hard work. Initially, showings
“At first, it was dismal and scary,” says Caroline Carrara, declined because of the restrictions to keep everyone safe.
now a broker at Balistreri. She was managing an office After about a month, I noticed more confidence in the
for a different company when the office closed in mid- market. Showings have now increased.”
March, and she began working from home. “There were
no new transactions and existing transactions had Adapting to change via technology
problems,” she recalls. “Then the sun started to come up.”
How did the industry pivot to cope with the new reality?
High-end properties seemed to be especially at risk. Technology to the rescue.
“When anything affects the stock market or travel, it “Sellers didn’t want people coming into their homes, so we
usually negatively affects the luxury market, which is often did virtual tours and 3D tours,” Faerber says. “Some deals
second homes,” says Laura San-Jose, a Broker Associate were closed sight unseen.”
with Douglas Elliman and Sales Director at 321 at Water’s
Edge, a 23-unit boutique condominium building in Fort The new embrace of technology turned out to be a positive
Lauderdale. “But we found it had the opposite effect. change that is likely to be long-lasting. “The real estate
People were figuring out what was important to them and industry had been behind other industries in technology for
where they wanted to be.” years, and they started to catch up,” Carrara says.
“Consumers were already looking online and real estate
“I expected the market to go flat,” says Judy High, a
people realized that if they were going to move forward,
Realtor with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services EWM they’d have to do it virtually, so they learned how to do
Realty. “We weren’t allowed to hold open houses and
videos and Zoom. Industry leaders were already doing it,
condos wouldn’t let you in at the front desk.”
but now it’s become the norm. It’s been a dynamic shift.
That’s the amazing thing that’s come out of it.”
Optimism takes over
There were, however, some reasons for optimism, Working from home
according to Jarrod Lowe, president of the Broward, Palm Even before the pandemic, people in high tax cities like
Beaches and St. Lucie Realtors. “No one had any idea New York and Chicago had begun to see that they could
how the market would react, but we saw that most of the do much of their work from anywhere as long as they had
job losses were coming from the hospitality and restaurant high-speed internet. They eyed Florida, with its tax
segments, and those [affected] are primarily renters,” he advantages and great weather, as a good place to live.
says. “The month of April was down, but since then, it’s The spreading virus speeded things up.
been going up sharply. It’s on fire now, including the
luxury market.” “There’s been a big population shift coming from high tax
states like New York and New Jersey,” Hero says. “People
Michael Faerber, a Realtor with Compass Realty, also saw said, ‘if we’re going to be stuck at home, let’s be stuck
positive possibilities. “Other brokers thought the market somewhere with good weather and good amenities.’”
would collapse. But as the virus was spreading quickly in
high density areas like New York early on, I seemed likely “The pandemic has made [buyers] realize the importance
to me that the Florida market would benefit from people of at least one fully equipped home office,” D’Angelo says.
moving out of New York into our area.”

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