The entryway and staircase in a million-dollar home in the Plaza neighborhood. Listing photo.

Low interest rates vs. coronavirus. It’s been a battle between good and evil in the real estate world during the early stages of the disease’s spread. The weekend of March 7- 8, according to local real estate agents, was strong in terms of open houses, said Phil Jones, owner and CEO of Coldwell Banker Coastal Alliance and director and past president of Pacific West Association of Realtors, which represents agents in Long Beach and Orange County.

“Attendance at open houses was normal to heavy. But I’d expect that to go down,” he said, now that the health situation is continuing to grow more dire by the day.

Phil Jones, president of Coldwell Banker Coastal Alliance. Photo by Brandon Richardson.

“I’ve already heard from a couple of agents who want to take their homes off the market for 60 days.”

Even so, Jones says there’s still a lot of interest from buyers, whether they’re venturing out into the world or not, due to historic low interest rates that were hovering a bit below 3% earlier this month, though as of Friday, rates had crept up into the mid-4% range.

Quicken Loans, America’s largest mortgage lender, had its single-highest day of loan originations last week, said Jones.

“But we don’t know how things will go. We’re in uncharted waters now.”

Jones says the Pacific West Association of Realtors recommends its agents follow the COVID-19 guidelines issued by the National Association of Realtors.

Those guidelines include the usual litany of recommendations about washing hands, sneezing and coughing into your elbow and keeping your hands from your face. But they also deal with matters pertaining to real estate, such as open houses: “Speak with clients about the pros and cons of open houses and assess risk based on location.” Clients may be reluctant to have groups in their homes.

If you do hold an open house, consider requiring all visitors to disinfect their hands upon entering the home, and provide alcohol-based hand sanitizers at the entryway, as well as soap and disposable towels in bathrooms.

You can refuse to drive clients to show them houses, but you have to make that decision to include all clients to avoid discrimination, though you’re also free to refuse if they show signs of illness or reveal recent travel to trouble spots.

If you do drive, the guidelines say, it’s a good idea to frequently clean and disinfect surfaces like door handles and seat belt latches.

There are also alternatives to open houses, including video tours. “Video is a viable way to show houses,” said Jones. “Virtual tours are a growing tool for Realtors and I think you’ll see a lot more in the future.”

On the market now

Homes listed in the seven figures keep popping up where you might least expect them. The latest is a house in the cozy neighborhood of tract houses in the East Long Beach Plaza neighborhood, where stock- or mildly-improved homes usually top out in the high $700,000s. Last month, a home in the 2700 block of Petaluma Avenue sold for $1,055,000, down from its listing price of $1,099,000.

A $1-million-plus home on Petaluma is pretty much the opposite of the timeless real-estate advice of buying the worst home in the best neighborhood.

The four-bedroom, three-bath residence is, at 2,775 square feet, about twice as large as the typical Plaza home, thanks to a complete custom-home makeover that makes it totally indiscernible from its original state.

It’s two stories, for one thing, and no original Plaza homes were two stories. It has one more bedroom and one more bathroom than the traditional three-bedroom, two bath homes in the tract.

A workout room in the tract house-turned custom home on Petaluma Avenue. Listing photo.

Upstairs is a master suite with a master bath that includes a Jacuzzi tub. Your basic Plaza home had a master bedroom, too, though it was only marginally larger than the other two bedrooms, and “en suite” would be overstating its adjacent half-bath with a Thermador wall heater.

What else does it take to make a Petaluma Avenue house to rise to the level of a million bucks?

Try an entryway with vaulted ceilings, a formal dining room, walk-in closets, central air-conditioning and heat.

Those of us who’ve lived in the Plaza for a few decades, can sprint around any house in the area while blindfolded. Here, though, we’d keep crashing into things.

Tim Grobaty is a columnist and the Opinions Editor for the Long Beach Post. You can reach him at 562-714-2116, email [email protected], @grobaty on Twitter and Grobaty on Facebook.