Move or Not, Four Things to Consider

Full Video Transcript Below

[00:00:00] Alice Lema: Well, good morning, real estate fans. Alice Lema, broker, John L. Scott here in beautiful Southern Oregon, mostly beautiful. We still have some smoke. And we're here at our weekly podcast. And we have a very timely podcast this week, and how to know if it's time for you to move. Four things to consider before you decide.

[00:00:18] And the reason this is so timely is we not only have the anniversary of our Almeda fires and the Obenchain fires, a year anniversary this week, plus the anniversary of 911. We're still in kind of pandemic mode here in Oregon. We still have mask mandates and rising infection, numbers. And we still have fires.

[00:00:38] So it's a lot of people are talking about this. So I just wanted to bring it out to the surface and give you four pros and cons to ponder before you decide whether to move. Okay. Before we get started, this is a chance to subscribe to our channel like the podcast, like the channel, share it with your friends.

[00:00:55] Let me know if it's helping, this is an educational series it's supposed to help. So let me know how this is all landing with you guys. Okay. All right.

[00:01:04] So here we go. How to know if it's time to move or not. Time for you to move or not, and four pros and cons to ponder before deciding. So the first thing to think about is what are the issues exactly, non-emotional.

[00:01:19] Number one, identify the issues. Are you experiencing frustration with your current environment? Is there actual discomfort with the physical impact, or the limitations of the environment. And some of that could look like the yard is too big. The yard is too small. The driveway's too steep. The neighbors are too close. The neighbors are too far away. My job is far away.

[00:01:43] You just want to make a non-emotional list of the frustration or discomfort that you're experiencing with that location. Okay. Just write it down and it'll make this all easier. And it's not just you it's whoever lives in the house.

[00:01:58] So It's a great family meeting kind of agenda. And if you live alone or you just have one partner, then I think it can be a great conversation to have is, how bad is this? And is it really bad enough for us to think about moving and identifying the issues as a first step?

[00:02:13] The second step is assess the changes that are possible to you. Okay. All changes possible in some form in the universe, but not all change is possible with us in particular, with particular address. So look around, look at your list and ask yourself what can easily be changed. Or do I really need to go to a new location? That's kind of the assessment. So number two is assess the possible changes that are available to you.

[00:02:45] What can easily be changed or do I really have to go somewhere else? And, and part of that conversation is, do I have the budget to make these changes. Do I have the time to make these changes? And it's not just, I'm going to hire somebody to come home when it's all magically done. I do a lot of rehab on the side helping people with that.

[00:03:03] It's like, I'm here to tell you it doesn't go down like that. And especially in a pandemic, especially when a lot of our workers are still down, trying to rebuild in the fire zone. So do you have the time and the budget to address the changes or is it less disruptive to start fresh somewhere else? So that's kind of the assessment stage. And that's our number two.

[00:03:23] Number three are there just plain financial gains to be made by moving right now. This has nothing to do with the property works or doesn't work. Well it might. But I want to give yourself a chance to just step back and look purely at a financial, from a financial perspective. And it's not that finances are going to have all the weight.

[00:03:44] But you do want to have an actual realistic idea of what it would mean to your pocketbook if you sold that place. Does not include going somewhere else, but what is the actual gain? Okay, so we have a lot of people that are just looking around going, oh my gosh, we have so much profit right now.

[00:04:03] And Southern Oregon does not always go up. It sometimes goes down. It goes in little cycles. So if you're one of those families that are just selling, taking the profit and then doing something else, that is okay, there's nothing wrong with that. But I just want you to stop and think about it. And I want you to know your numbers.

[00:04:19] Okay. Cause that's all part of this is really having an honest financial assessment of what you're leaving in the house or property and what you're taking out. Okay, so that's number three. Are there financial gains to be had right now? And again, not that it's all about the money. It's just a piece of it. And whether it has much weight or not to your decision, you just need to know in my opinion.

[00:04:42] Okay. Number four, what's the long-term impact of not making a change. And that means not making any physical changes to the house or property, not making any address changes. Like we're not going to move. Like if you don't change anything, what is the long-term impact of that? And I have a lot of elderly people that do not spend enough time on this question. I have a lot of elderly people that do.

[00:05:08] But as the middle-aged daughter of an elder who did not do this, I just want to say, please have a conversation with yourself and your family about the long-term impact of not making any changes whatsoever. Sometimes it can be just fine and it's not just older people. It's younger people too. If you don't do anything, what's it going to be like in 10 or 20 years? Are you going to be paying a price on your lifestyle? Are you going to be paying a price on your health or safety?

[00:05:36] If you stay in your current situation will you be able to do to sustain the environment with the resources you have. And it's not just money resources, it's neighbors helping you. It's family, helping you. Are you going to have to have people help you?

[00:05:49] If you do this or don't do this. And are you going to be held back from the lifestyle you should be living the life you should be living? Is your environment going to hold you back from taking that next life step .And having fuller and more joyful having a bigger contribution, more purpose, whatever is meaningful to you. That's the question to ask number four. What is the long-term impact of you not making any changes whatsoever?

[00:06:17] And I'm sorry, I'm giggling a little bit. My mother is, is here with me and I love her dearly. And I'm so happy she's here. But I wish we had talked more about this like 25 years ago. So anyway and if you're young, a millennial and a renter, this is a great question for you to ask yourself too, regardless of what age. If your a tenant right now, especially in the state of Oregon, when so many landlords are selling and we don't have new landlords getting into that business so to speak. Ask yourself what's the long-term impact of staying a renter, of staying a tenant in the state of Oregon. If I don't make any changes whatsoever, how vulnerable am I as a tenant.

[00:06:58] So, yeah, it's not just elderly people. It's everybody. It's a great question to ask yourself every so often anyway, just about you know, where you are in your life and are you happy and, and what are the consequences of not making any changes whatsoever?

[00:07:11] Okay. So not to be so philosophical this week, but this is, this is a conversation I'm having every day with people. It does have a little philosophical bent to it. Sorry, tripping over my words. I think in part, because of the anniversary of the fires and 911, and we have been in some kind of shut down level or mandate level for such a long time here in Oregon.

[00:07:34] We're tired, we're combat weary. And, and I think we're just kind of looking around and trying to decide how to do what's best for ourselves and our families. So these are great questions to ask yourself. Please do leave a comment. Please do subscribe to the channel.

[00:07:49] Please reach out to me if you've got any questions or you want to have a conversation about your real estate. What your place is worth. Should you buy a place now? Should you get a second home? Is it time to become an investor? I'm a big fan of people becoming an investor right now as Warren Buffet loves to say, when everybody else is running out of the room, that's the time to run in. But it's dicey. It's dicey in Oregon. But but I still think there's a need for good landlords. And I think it's still a great business to be in.

[00:08:15] So give me a call, give me a text. I'm around all weekend. My number is 54 1- 301-7980. I want to be your agent, so please do reach out. Okay. Otherwise have a beautiful Southern Oregon weekend hug the people you love and I'll talk to you next week.

[00:08:32] Bye now.