Following the instructions to keep social distancing and quarantine in some cases, and after a long period of time of general quarantine in the entire State of Israel, there is a trend of returning to residing in private homes outside the City. Very quickly the Israelis came to the understanding that it is much easier to keep social distancing in a private house with a private lawn and preferably with a private swimming pool.
Before March 2020 and the outbreak of the Corona pandemic, the general trend was moving to the City of Tel Aviv, living in new residential towers with large public spaces, maintained by the management company of the tower. Home owners in Herzliya Pituach, in Kfar Shmaryahu and in Rishpon put their large Villas up for sale, especially after their children grew up and left the nest. Maintaining a private house requires a lot of attention, work, is time-consuming, and requires caring for the security of the property against uninvited guests and an investment of course. Life in an apartment built on one level, with one entrance door, which is easy to secure, and with a sun balcony for enjoying the outdoors – seemed tempting. Beautiful houses in Herzliya Pituach and in Kfar Shmaryahu , as well as invested Villas in those suburbs and in Savyon and Cesaereaa were offered for sale one after the other by their owners.
The residential towers advertised a new lifestyle with pampering amenities for the tenants: Large swimming pool and kiddies pool, well equipped gym, spa with Jacuzzi and Sauna, tenants’ lounge and more. At the ‘Meier on Rothschild’ residential tower there are 500 Sq.m of public spaces for the tenants’ use, including a wine cellar, with a place to store wine bottles at the right temperature and a nice room to uncork wine with friends. At the ‘G’ tower, which is also named ‘Hashoftim’ tower, there is a room for business meetings which can be booked by the tenants, a library and an elegant tenants’ lounge with a piano and kitchenette. The indoor swimming pool at the ‘G’ tower is heated and can be used all year round. In addition, residential towers have an impressive entrance lobby with a doorman station manned 24/7. At the ‘Rothschild 1’ residential tower, for example, and at the ‘Elrov’ (‘Akirov’) residential towers the doormen perform the duties of concierges, similar to the role of a Hotel concierge, they provide personal attention and care to each and every tenant. An apartment owner in a residential tower is free from all the chores and responsibilities which he had as a private house owner, he transfers all responsibilities to the management company and its maintenance crew. This requires, of course, payment of a monthly management fee calculated according to the size of the apartment.
With the coming of the Corona virus the entire situation is reversed! The requests are not only for a Villa or Villas in Herzliya Pituach but also for houses in a Moshav or for Country Estates. Villas which were on the market for sale for a long time were sold or rented out. Deals were closed to purchase large properties, Nachalot with impressive houses, at their full asking price. Locations which were at a low demand and the prices of properties in those locations dropped significantly, such as Savyon or Caesarea, are in demand again. There is also high demand for short term rentals of houses in Herzliya Pituach, houses with a swimming pool, or houses close to Herzliya Sea shore, vacation rentals for the summer months and for the coming Holidays.
A client of mine who lives in Montréal told me that a Canadian Real Estate broker told him that he had closed 17 deals (!) to sell vacation homes around the lake in Montréal. In New York State there was a massive movement from New York City to houses outside the City along the Hudson river, to mansions in the Hamptons, and to cabins or vacation homes in the north of the State. This trend is typical not only to Israel but also to other countries in the world, we are all under the same flag: “The Corona flag”. Taking care of the garden, looking after the lawn and tending to the swimming pool is no longer an issue these days, it is welcomed. Having no culture events, no theatre performances or concerts, dining in restaurants and hanging out in bars is limited and with frequent changes and restrictions – nurturing flowers and trees is a kind of pleasant therapy.
The move is from the city to the country, from a condo apartment to a private house or a Villa in the suburbs. When working from home most of the week days, the geographic proximity to the office is no longer relevant. My last blog describes my visit at the ‘Google’ offices in Tel Aviv, spacious offices with pampering open spaces and restaurants for the employees. ‘Google’ employees are all working from home from the beginning of March, and will be effective at least until the end of 2020. Let us hope that in my next blog I shall be able to report returning to the life we knew.