Leelanau Peninsula real estate is red-hot right now, and local agents and brokers tell the Leelanau Ticker that it’s not in spite of COVID-19, but because of it. Kimberly Bork, broker and owner at Venture Properties in Leland, says, “properties are moving at a wildly quick pace. We are busier now than we were before the pandemic. So many folks who were just thinking about shopping are actually acting on it.”

Tim Schaub, co-owner and broker at Schaub Team Premier Realty, agrees. "We are definitely seeing clients leaving cities, reprioritizing, and wanting a simpler life. These are people who have always had an affection for Leelanau County and are discovering right now, due to the COVID virus, that they can work remotely, or maybe take an early retirement.”

Schaub explains that the last three homes he listed — ranging from a $749,000 to a $1.35 million asking price — “all had multiple showings and multiple offers on the same day.”

He adds, “Mortgage rates are very low — that is definitely part of why we are so busy right now.” [The going 30-year fixed mortgage interest rate is at 3.020 percent with a 3.310 percent APR as of Sunday night, August 23.] 

Schaub — who started his real estate company 20 years ago with his brother Roger — shares that they are on track to surpass last year’s sales. Schaub Team, which does 90 percent of its sales in Leelanau County, had $41 million in sales in 2019, a jump from $28 million in both 2017 and 2018. Says Schaub, “This year, for what we have closed and what’s pending, we have already reached $40 million.” He estimates they will hit $50 million total sales in 2020.

“That is how busy we are,” he says.

By contrast, the Wall Street Journal reported last week that in New York City the luxury real-estate market has been delivered a “stunning gut-punch” due to the COVID-19 crisis, with downward pressure surpassing both the 2008 financial crisis and the period immediately following 9/11. 

It doesn’t take a big leap to understand why Leelanau’s market is thriving, says Cory Beuerle, an agent at CENTURY 21 Northland, who moved to Suttons Bay from San Diego 28 years ago, and raised her children here. “We are very, very fortunate, that we have quality of life here like no other. Everyone is coming our way right now in Leelanau County, because they want a toehold. As a reaction to COVID, they want it as an immediate runaway place, or a safe place to run away eventually, even if they are not selling the home where they currently live.”

Roger Schaub adds, “We have always seen buyers from the large midwest cities of Detroit, Chicago, Indy, and Cincinnati buying as retirees. But we are seeing a younger audience. That has ramped up the demand.”

Beuerle agrees, “Because of this new surge of buyers, residential is a stampede. If it is a newer ranch-style home in that $300,000 to $600,000 range, it will fly out the door. Also, waterfront homes, if they are priced right, will absolutely fly.”

She says vacant land sales are picking up, too, with view lots driving the market. “Even if it has been sitting there, if it has a water view, then it’s going.”

She says that for buyers that are championing Leelanau as a “COVID-safe zone,” acreage is back in high demand. “Still, it has to have high-speed internet. We are scrambling with some of our rural properties to find adequate solutions, because the driving force for these buyers is working out of the home,” Beuerle says.

Bork has also seen most inventory, especially the waterfront, moving within the week with multiple offers. For example, a small two-bedroom, one-bath Lake Leelanau cottage listed at close to a half million dollars, “had 10 offers within three days,” says Bork.

Her client, who is not from the area, made an offer after a friend who lives here did a preview of the cottage with Bork on her behalf. Bork’s client ended up winning the bid “because we had done our homework, we were able to think and act quickly, and write a clean offer. She will be here for closing and finally see what she bought — which I don’t recommend — but this was the way to get a foot in the door. She is thankful for the boots on the ground.”

She adds that because of relatively low inventory compared to the number of interested buyers, “people are having to get a little more flexible on their wish list and more creative in their approach. They are not always going to find the perfect house on the perfect lot, and many homes are being sold ‘as is.’ If it’s a highly sought-after location, that is its potential. Buyers may need to think of it as a vacant piece of property, that already has a well and septic installed, and do a remodel. If it is in Leelanau County, in the long run it’s worth it.”

Roger Schaub is looking at inventory from a different perspective: “So far in 2020 we have brought 76 clients to pending or closed status — so I am not one that subscribes to low inventory. The way that we have to approach inventory is with urgency and preparedness. The first time a client sees the home will be on a Facetime with me, and they get here in 24 hours. That is something we have not had to implement before now.”

The county’s home inventory below $300,000 has been notoriously scarce (on August 23, a search for homes on realtor.com in the $200,000 to $300,000 price range in Leelanau County yielded 26 results), which contributes to squeezing out the local workforce in terms of home ownership. But Bork says, “You find exceptions, of course, and I have sold many Leelanau homes under $200,000, even. They just don’t become available very often.”

Says Beuerle, “One just hit last week for $220,000.” It is a 1,120 square foot, 70s-era family home at the tip of Stony Point in Suttons Bay, with what was billed as “a compact kitchen in need of updates.” Says Beuerle, “Does it have an orange kitchen counter? Yes. Did that agent get an offer the minute that it hit the market? Yes. Everybody was calling.”

Indeed, every realtor the Leelanau Ticker spoke with referenced this “unicorn” Stony Point listing. Check it out here.

Bork, too, just listed a home at $229,000 three days ago: a ranch on a cul-de-sac with 800 feet of shared beach in the Cherry Homes subdivision in Northport.

“People ask, ‘what’s the catch?’” she says. “Cherry Homes is pretty far north on the peninsula, but because it does have access to high speed internet, it could work for someone to relocate and be here full time or to be a retirement retreat. They can get their spot, so to speak, and start to enjoy using it as a second home.” 

And what if you have a Leelanau property you’d like to sell? Says Beuerle, “You have to be prepared to move if you are a hot property. Never walk away from your home frivolously, but if you have made up your mind, absolutely sell this year. We just don’t know what’s coming down the pike.”

Photos: A 1960's beachfront home on Good Harbor Bay currently listed for $849,000 by Roger and Tim Schaub of Schaub Team Premier Realty