Local real estate agent Andy Krotik has seen a lot during his 31 years in the business.
He's gone through the closing of Castle Air Force Base, the housing boom and the Great Recession.
Krotik can add the coronavirus pandemic as another peculiar period of time for the real estate market.
Krotik, who works for American Realty, described Merced County's current real estate market as "insane."
"Buyers are blowing up my phone," Krotik said.
The coronavirus pandemic has helped create a seller's market in Merced County.
For example, the median price of homes in Merced has increased from $276,900 in April to $339,000 in August.
In August 2019 the median home price in Merced was $279,000.
Krotik certainly isn't alone in expressing that sentiment. "Prices have skyrocketed in Merced County," said Anna Newkirk, Merced County Association of Realtors board president.
"It's a bit ironic as you would think at the start of the pandemic it would have the opposite effect. But in the beginning sellers were holding back from putting their homes on the market, which depleted the already low inventory."
According to Krotik, there are currently 19 houses for sale in Atwater. Last year at this time there was 70. There are now 94 houses for sale in Merced.
"I don't think I've seen these numbers in my 31 years," Krotik said.
"Inventory is very tight," said Brandon Ruscoe, an agent for Better Homes and Gardens, Everything Real Estate. "Merced County had 507 active single family homes on the market in August of last year compared to 175 this August."
Agents believe some would-be sellers don't want to go through the extended process of selling a home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite all the precautions taken by real estate agents, there are still home owners who aren't comfortable putting their house for sale at this time.
Some people aren't going to be comfortable with home and pest inspectors coming through their home, in addition to workers coming in to fix issues, plus a stream of potential buyers.
"People are afraid to put their house up for sale because of COVID," Krotik said. "Investors are way down. Buyers are empowered by the 2.75 percent interest rates. I don't think people understand all the precautions we as agents are taking to sell houses."
Back in March, at the beginning of the pandemic, real estate agents were showing houses to potential buyers mostly through Zoom meetings. Open houses weren't allowed.
Since then, health officials have green-lit home visits.
However, Krotik says potential buyers have to fill out a questionnaire that asks if they've been in contact with anyone infected by COVID-19 or whether they have shown any symptoms of the virus.
Plus, if a potential buyer finds out that they have come in contact with anyone infected by COVID-19, they must tell the agent and the seller.
"Everyone has to sign the declaration," Krotik said. "Everyone has to wear a mask while in the house, it's adults only and the buyers can't touch anything while in the house. We're doing this to protect our clients, ourselves and the seller."
The inventory of newly constructed houses is also low.
"The pandemic has created a slowdown in the construction of new homes due to strained supply chains of building materials," Ruscoe said.
The low inventory means houses aren't sitting on the market and it's creating bidding wars.
"If a house is new to the market, good condition, good price, it'll have multiple offers, some $50,000-plus over list price which is huge for Merced,"said Newkirk, who is also a sales manager at Century 21 MM in Merced.
According to Krotik, he had 10 properties for sale in July. Eight of them received multiple offers.
"It's not unusual to get four to seven bids," Krotik said. "In March, houses were staying on the market on average 39 days. Today it's eight days. That's a pretty drastic change."
While local agents have seen a decrease in Bay Area investors coming in to buy houses, they have still seen an increase in out-of-town buyers looking to take advantage of the lower cost housing in the Central Valley.
According to Ruscoe, the median house prices in Fresno ($345,000), Madera ($335,000), Mariposa ($381,000) are far lower than what you'd find in the Bay Area.
"We have experienced significantly more first-time home buyers this year, many of which have greater remote work flexibility from the metros." Ruscoe said.
"Buyers are taking advantage of extremely low interest rates. Valley home values being much more affordable compared to the Bay Area makes buying here very advantageous for those that can work remotely."
The median housing prices in Merced County have increased in each of the last five months. According to Newkirk, the median price in Merced was $276,900 in April, $288,950 in May, $305,000 in July and now $339,000 in August.
"You of course always have a certain amount of people that have to buy and sell and buying is basically a bit easier, less demanding than getting a house ready anyways," Newkirk said.
"A couple months into (the pandemic) most buyers and some sellers were coming back and basic supply and demand took over with too many buyers looking at too few properties."
Many agents feel once Merced County gets through the pandemic the housing market will stabilize.
"I think it's definitely tied to the pandemic and the low interest rate," Krotik said.
"Once the pandemic is over, people will want to sell again. They won't be afraid. I think the pendulum could swing the other way. It could be a buyer's market after the pandemic."
