Let Me Be Your Real Estate Coach

Coach Jamie

Baseball

Coaching

I was recently reflecting on the correlations between my life as a Realtor, and the volunteering I do as a coach for my son’s baseball and soccer teams. As I work on our team’s playbook for the upcoming season, I can’t help but see many parallels between the real estate market and the sport of baseball.

The current state of the real estate market presents many challenges, particularly for buyers. These include lack of inventory, competing offers, increasing prices, and rising interest rates just to name a few.

While working on my practice plan for the baseball team, it dawned on me how many of my coaching strategies translate to coaching my clients in real estate. I find myself telling the baseball team to be more patient at the plate. They see the ball coming, and want to get a hit so badly, that sometimes they swing at bad pitches. I also tell buyers to be patient. Rushing things in real estate is never a good idea so I do my best to keep my clients educated and well-versed in our buying and selling strategies.

When it comes to hitting a baseball, timing and location are everything. If a player is only focused on hitting a home run every time they are at bat, they may lose sight of relevant strategies that will safely get them to first plate. Same goes for real estate. The mistake I see many buyers make is trying to “time the market”. It would be great if we could all buy low and sell high. The timing of when we need/want to buy a home doesn’t always match up with when the market is at its lowest. Therefore waiting to buy can sometimes be more expensive than buying when prices are higher. A hard and true fact that many buyers struggle understanding is that you don’t have to buy at the lowest point to do well in real estate. Your ultimate goals should be: to own; to make your payments on time; and to be patient. Real estate will ALWAYS increase in value over time. Waiting to buy and losing out on appreciation, interest deductions on taxes, and not building equity are some of the pitfalls of trying to “time the market”.

A Buyer’s example to ponder:

Purchase price = $550,000

10% down payment = $55,000

Loan value = $495,000

After 5 years, making on-time payments:

Loan value = $446,844

Equity gained = $48,156

If this home appreciated just 3% per year in 5 years (the projected appreciation for 2018 in San Diego County is 6%):

New home value = $637,600

The overall gain, at a conservative 3%, would equal:$135,756

($48,156 in equity and $87,600 in appreciation)

This gain does not include the tax benefits of writing off property taxes and the interest on the loan. If a buyer however were waiting to ‘time the market’ during this 5 year span, even if the market had a correction or drop, a buyer would miss out on some gains in equity and appreciation!

I would love to be your coach and help get your home ready to sell and/or to find your next home. Please don’t hesitate to call me with any of your real estate or mortgage questions. 619-846-4717