Your Top 10 Priorities

In 1999 I sold my home north of Boston and came to Wilmington with a fistful of hot cash. I had owned five homes up till my move to North Carolina and all had been in planned communities. This time though I was bound and determined to break the mold. I was headed to the warm sands of Wrightsville Beach and nothing was going to stop me.

The first home my Realtor showed me was about 7 homes from the beach. Wow – imagine being able to hear the roar of the Atlantic at night from your bedroom window? However, on closer review, the house was in shambles and still had shag carpet from the 70s. Nothing in the house was new and fresh like I was accustomed to plus the price was about $150,000 over my pain level. So off we went to look at a condo on the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway). Bingo! l love boats and I was going to make this work. Well, that was until I realized the condo consisted of only one bedroom which was stuck in a loft whose only access was a small spiral staircase. Oh, and did I mention the entire square footage was 587’?

Eventually I built a new custom built home in a very nice community that was about 10 minutes from Wrightsville Beach but, at least I did give the beach a try, albeit an unsuccessful one at that. It was then that I learned a valuable lesson on priorities and expectations of real estate.

Moving is without a doubt one of the most exciting yet terrifying experiences one encounters in their lives. Often though moving enables dreams to come true, be it a bigger home, newer home, closer to the beach or family, etc. And whether you consciously create a list of priorities for your new place or not, you have them, I promise.

For fun, I thought I would attempt to show how women’s priorities often change as well as men’s priorities both before and after their first trip south. Keep in mind that while I am using generalities here, there is more truth to what I print than one might initially think!

 

And here is what a guy’s view of moving south looks like before and after his first trip south.

 

When I entered Real Estate many years ago, I learned of a bit of a controversial phrase that has been kicked around for years – “Buyers are Liars”. I take exception to this fable because Buyer’s often do not have all the information they need to make a well informed decision as they begin their search. However, once they do have this information, they quite often change their minds. This is not lying mind you, this is just the natural flow of processing information.

A good example is that a couple could come down and be very focused on living on the water. However, after a week of scouring the area, several communities and numerous homes, they abandon their search for water views in exchange for a brand new home in a very friendly golf course community. This happens every day of the week here and is no surprise to those of us in the industry of making dreams come true!

If you have not begun your search, have some fun and write down your Top 10 Priorities for your eventual move south. Put it somewhere you will be able to find it in a year or so and once you find your ideal location/community/home, pull it out to compare with your original priorities. Our team of professionals have been doing this for years and we know that in order for our clients to make well informed decisions that they require significant information.