Dawna Davies and her assistant Jodi Blanchard did an exceptional job in helping us sell our home in San Luis Obispo. Dawna’s intelligence and knowledge of the business made the whole complex process easy for us to understand and navigate. What seemed like counter-intuitive advice at the start—that we should be extremely thorough in discovering any possible problems with the forty year old house and present them in advance—turned out to streamline the final transaction by building trust in potential buyers and removing the possibility of unpleasant surprises and uncertainty for us. Her contacts with a wide range of local business people who carried out many preparatory operations quickly and economically offered another unique benefit. Her tact and amiability made our numerous interactions pleasant rather than wary. And Jodi’s work in converting the box full of documents from our files into a coherent house-maintenance-history binder meticulous and creative. From start to finish our involvement with Davies Company was personally as well as financially rewarding.
- It’s a great education.Owning real estate, based on our experience, prepares young people for life and business better than anything else! There are valuable social implications, economic implications, and risk evaluations that affect their future and the future of others. If they do not have a downpayment, they have the opportunity to learn about partnerships, which gives others the opportunity to gain from assisting them in their financial success.
- Youth have time to build equity. By starting in their 20s, they would have a 30-year mortgage paid off in their 50s or so. And still have more living to do! In addition to equity buildup, they are also hedging themselves in long-term wealth building with likely increases in real estate values. Over the past 30 years in California, property values have multiplied 5 times.
- Interest rates are low. Todays rates for Owner-Occupied financing are very low. There was a day when rates were more than 16%! For the average college students, having cash flow is important. With low interest expense, they will have more cash available to improve their property and for living expenses.
- They can control their own housing. No rental applications to complete, no landlord to call before a plumbing repair, no threat of a lease expiring or a landlord selling, and nowhere to go after a 12-month lease.
- Success can start early. We understand that there are friends and family members that may have had experiences with market slumps. Fear of financial ruin has kept some from encouraging loved ones buy property. Advise them to talk to a real estate advisor with successful personal real estate experience. Encourage them to use a combination of optimism and good analysis, and START LOOKING!