![\"\"](\"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/bs-2.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nToday, it\u2019s down to 57 \u2013 with 37 of them going for more than $200,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A house that was selling for $200,000 a year ago today is going for closer to $250,000 today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reason for the supercharged market? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Increasingly, local residents are seeing New York and New Jersey plates driving the back roads of Morgan County. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
People in COVID-19 hot spots like New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and metropolitan Baltimore and Washington, D.C. are coming to the \u201cnot hot spot\u201d (only 26 confirmed COVID-19 cases with zero deaths) that is Morgan County for second homes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And in some cases, they\u2019re getting out of the urban areas altogether and fleeing to West Virginia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are still getting people from other states looking for second homes,\u201d said Teresa Seville, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker. \u201cBut recently I\u2019ve heard people comment \u2013 we are getting out of the city.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re getting people coming from New York and New Jersey. It\u2019s not just the Baltimore and northern Virginia areas anymore. There are people coming from the states that have been hit pretty hard and they just want to get out of Dodge. Taxes are going up in New Jersey and COVID is so bad that they just want out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why would someone in New York and New Jersey pick Morgan County, West Virginia?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a good question,\u201d Seville said. \u201cBut we are seeing New York plates a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even though the Morgan County real estate market is hot, it\u2019s hotter in neighboring Berkeley County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBerkeley County is over the top,\u201d Seville said. \u201cJust talking with my fellow agents in Berkeley County \u2013 they are going in against three to 15 offers. One gal said she was going in against 14 other offers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd while we have multiple offers here in Morgan County, it\u2019s not like Berkeley County. We might have two or three additional offers that we are up against. I guess the shortage of listings is driving the multiple offers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sabrena Funk of Kesecker Realty says that pre-pandemic, \u201cwe were already in a good market, in a busy market.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen COVID hit and the shutdown came, I figured \u2013 okay, this is going to be a rough one and that business would stop,\u201d Funk said. \u201cHowever, because real estate in West Virginia was considered essential, we were allowed to still work \u2013 but we had to take precautions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd people were saying \u2013 the rates are low, my job is not affected and I want to buy something because I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen. And then in May, things began to start opening up. And that\u2019s when we saw things starting to snowball and properties began to sell, sell, sell.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Funk also says that Berkeley County is a different matter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been trying to help some clients down there and we put in offers on four properties and we have missed out on every one,\u201d Funk said. \u201cAnd we were offering full price or above and we are still not getting them.\u201d
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The real estate market in Berkeley Springs and Morgan County, West Virginia is heating up. Usually at this time of year, real estate agents would see 100 to 120 listings for houses in Morgan County.\u00a0 Today, it\u2019s down to 57 … Continue reading