Coulda, woulda, shoulda ...

May 2008

Coulda. woulda, shoulda ...

Opportunity Street sign. Original image at http://www.placementlink.com/Images/pl_opportunity.jpg

Time is of the essence
If you've been involved in the real estate business for some time -- as I've certainly been by now! -- you'll be aware of numerous sayings that apply to it. Without question one of them is the comment, usually uttered with some sense of regret, by somone who coulda, woulda, shoulda taken advantage of an opportunity that came their way at some moment in the past.
But does it matter? In any case, what are such opportunities? And why do they happen and what are the reasons for people passing them by?
Well, as just one example, my wife and I could have bought our first home in Canada for no more than $5000. Or some twenty years later we tried -- unsuccessfully, alas -- to purchase a motel in Honolulu for $35,000.
However, in the first case, we'd arrived from England only two months earlier and landed with not much more than $50 in our pockets. Moreover, this was back in the spring of 1958. In turn, the second situation was in the mid 70s when banks looked decidedly askance at any overseas purchases and purchasers. A deal could have been put together if we'd had the necessary cash but, not too surprisingly, our starting-out-$50 hadn't increased to anywhere near the required amount. So yes, we coulda, woulda, shoulda, but we didn't -- just as many other people have (had to) let opportunities pass them by.

Time doesn't stand still
Our reasons for missing what might have been were, we quickly realized, unarguable enough that we didn't worry about the first and had to shrug off the second. Opportunity may knock only once, but you do have to be in a position to answer it. If not, it's more than likely that other chances are going to present themselves and you have only to wait for them to appear at a more apposite time. Admittedly, time doesn't stand still, but neither does the market. Although it's quite different from what history happens to be, it does have a similar habit of repeating itself.
Thus, the couldas, wouldas, and shouldas, regrettable though they may be or not, are almost bound to reoccur if you keep on the lookout for them, get yourself ready for them as best you can, and, perhaps most of all, never give up hope of finding and seizing one. In other words, you need only keep on going on going on until you achieve your goal.
Or as Winston Churchill said (in one of his numerous well-thought-out observations): "Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm."

But what IS an opportunity?
The two examples of my own may bring back yearnings for the "good old days," but they are really opportunities only in the sense that they reflect how things were decades ago. Indeed, if I may borrow a currently popular phrase, that was yesterday and today is now. In fact, to call on another recollection from the past, we bought our first home here in Niagara-on-the-Lake for a mere $24,000, which will at best now buy you no more than a driveway and undoubtedly just a single unpaved one at that.
No, house prices go up over the years and, on the whole, you won't be able to pay tomorrow what you could probably get for its price today.
(As an aside: I am, of course, thinking of a fairly lengthy passage of time, rather than only a couple of years or so. However, if you research a property that has kept reappearing on the market, the odds are that the asking price has been continually reduced -- which, ahem, means that you could buy it today for less than you'd have paid yesterday! But, to use yet another saying, this is another story and only proves that overpriced listings have to come down to what the market thinks they're worth.)
The reality, though, is that an opportunity has to be considered in terms of the current market. What might have been purchasable at an enviable figure some long time ago is going to now cost more but, if its value is greater than whatever else your money can buy, then it's worth considering. It has to suit your taste and requirements, needless to say, but it can overcome any likelihood of being added to your coulda, woulda, shoulda list.

More than the price ...
What you end up paying for a property is only one factor to be considered, however. Price is important, but the usefulness and suitability of a home cannot -- and shouldn't -- be set totally aside for the sake of saving a few dollars. For instance, you need to be comfortable with the floor plan, the existence (or absence) of upgrades, the exterior and interior conditions, the location, and access to such things as schools, shopping, medical services, and transportation. Going without anything you unquestionably need is akin to false economy. What you save is probably going to be paid for in terms of discomfort and inconvenience.
This may imply an objective consideration of a place that's taken your fancy, but I'll make no apology for suggesting that such is the approach you ought to take. Buying a home has its emotional side (as in We gotta have it.), but it can be a mistake to dismiss the possible cons because of unbridled enthusiam for the pros. There's still another saying, isn't there, about repenting at leisure (as in Whatever were we thinking of?)?

Motivation is what matters
Within an objective analysis of why -- and why not -- you should take up an opportunity that comes to your attention is a question as to why the property is on the market. You won't always get a true answer, mind you, but there should be a hint (or two) that makes sense to you. It could be retirement, downsizing, a growing family in need of something bigger, a new job somewhere else, financial problems, loss of a long time partner because of death or divorce, or something that doesn't just suggest a wish to make an unreasonable/unjustifiable profit (even if prices over the years have advanced to what the owners probably never foresaw).
Indeed, if you are being offered an opportunity, the price should at the least be a decidedly competitive one. Your judgment ought to be based on a Comparative Market Analysis (the asking price should have a favourable relationship to current listings, recent sales, and expiries -- all of which your [Buyer] agent can -- and ought to -- provide you with).
In effect, you should be able to make a good assessment of the Seller's motivation and the extent to which the competition has been taken into account, just as you are entitled (and ought) to decide how realistic the asking price is.
This same analysis should lend (sufficient) support to your offer, as well. Your figure may be lower than the Seller (and/or Listing Agent) wants or expects but, in truth, it needs to be something that hasn't been simply pulled out of thin air. Thus, your own motivation plays a part in bringing the two sides together. As is also often said in the real estate business, a good deal is a win-win one for both sides of the transaction.

Taking a chance
So the next time a coulda, woulda, shoulda listing comes your way, it's worthwhile -- asI see it, anyway -- to run it through all these pontifications of mine. To draw upon even another saying (and I'm full of them this month, aren't I?): he who hesitates is lost.
Buying a house is a serious matter and it calls for careful consideration. But this month's (what I can perhaps call) "Real Estate Philosophy 101" is a distillation of my gathered experience in helping people get the "most house for the money."
Maybe there's still one more saying that reflects my thoughts: May the force be with you!

Warmest regards, as always.

Duncan Pollock, Real Estate Broker,
427 Gate Street, Niagara-on-the-Lake,
Ontario, Canada L0S 1J0
Tel: 905-468-3154 Fax: 905-468-3812
Cellular: 905-704-9037
email: duncanpollock@sympatico.ca
Note: E-mail addressed changed as above on Nov 3 2007

website: http://www.duncanpollock.com

PS. One of my web pages provides a list of the other newsletters I've sent out. If you choose to go to it, you can click on any title to bring up its full text.
PPS. I've recently been invited and encouraged to create a second website, one that deals with my approach to the industrial, commercial, and investment real estate market. You can reach it, if you're so inclined, at http://www.iciniagara.com.