Relocating To San Diego with a VA Loan
One of the reasons I love being in real estate is helping our veterans get homes. Relocating in Southern California has its challenges, which is why your strategy is so important. When I met John, he had just been assigned to San Diego and was looking for a place to buy. However, he wasn't on good terms with his current realtor.
John was referred to me by somebody that I served with at a previous unit in my Marine Corps career. He didn’t know where in San Diego to look for a home, and while he had a realtor, the agent kept sending him listings he didn’t like.
The problem was that John wasn't just looking for a place to live; he was looking for a place to have a long-term investment to set up his portfolio for the future. Buying a house is an emotional decision. Sometimes, making emotional decisions while you're buying a house is not the best way to make that purchase.
Retail VS Investment
One of the other problems that John had was that he was trying to make a real estate investment—but he was working with a retail realtor. When you're looking to buy a house, it's more than just a place to live; it's an investment. One of the things you want to know is how long you're going to hold onto the property.
Does the area that you're buying in have a lot of room for appreciation in the future? Does the home have an area where you can make improvements to capitalize on the equity that you have in the home? Before meeting John, he wasn't considering these factors. He was looking to buy a home, but he didn't look at the entire investment he was making.
Once we got into some of the details of the area, location, and features, we found that we wanted to change those criteria so that he could maximize his investment and not waste time.
Building Equity
Today, John is the happy owner of a home that's made him a lot of equity in the recent market. He's got a two-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath property that’s an awesome location for his commute to work. It also allows him to pursue his weekend hobbies, including outdoor bow shooting and traveling to other parts of the country on hunting trips.
When we first started looking at houses, John and I were looking at houses that needed a lot of sweat equity put into them. Even though he was willing to do that work, the amount of time he has due to his status is just not complementary to that lifestyle. So we adjusted that criteria based on how much time he had and what his price point was. That enabled us to get him in a property that needed minimal updates, met all of his needs, and gave him the amount of character that he was looking for in a home.
One of the things we did with John was talk about how long he wanted to live on the property. He said he wanted to be in there 3-5 years before he moves into another home, increases the size of his family, and finds something that's a long-term investment. However, he still wants to hold on to that property so that he can rent it out and create residual income to supplement his current income. John was preapproved to buy a house up to $530,000. But guess what? that's not what John spent—even in this market—to get the home that he wanted.
Getting The House He Wanted
John's final purchase price was around $460,000, which was phenomenal. It kept him way below his price point, which was an extra bonus, and gave him equity right off the bat. This keeps more money in his pocket and not in anybody else's. In a couple of years, John intends on hanging onto that property and renting it out that property is going to cash flow instantly. He's not going to pay anything out of pocket.
According to John, working with me was like a breath of fresh air. When he was trying to move to San Diego from Florida, his previous realtor kept sending him properties that didn’t match any of his needs and wants. None of them had a yard for him to shoot his bow and arrow or parking for his van. His realtor just wasn’t listening.
From watching a lot of HGTV videos, John thought he could just go out, rehab a house, and make a lot of money. When he met me, I pointed out that sometimes you can make a really good investment with a house that doesn't need any work. The process was quick, fast, and I was responsive to John’s needs. Today, he couldn't be more ecstatic—and he has room to shoot his bow and arrows.
Make Your Investment Today
So if you're looking to buy a property, make sure that you're looking at properties that will help you meet your current needs of living in a home but will also have some play into your long game and get into your investment portfolio for the future. If you know anybody who's relocating into or out of San Diego and they need some help on the ground, please refer them to me because I'd love to help them out and give them the ground truth.
Since I've gotten into real estate, I've dedicated the rest of my real estate career to helping veterans move in and out of areas specifically because of our location near all of the bases. Buying a house is a long-term investment, and you need boots on the ground that can tell you what the truth is and help you get to that point.
John started looking at properties that he didn't end up with. They were 180 degrees different because he was educated on the process and the market. That’s the information you need to make an impact on your investment in the future. So feel free to contact me if you have questions, and don’t forget to subscribe to my channel so you never miss an episode of Recon SoCal!
