Love and Real Estate

Valentine’s Day is upon us yet again, when everything around us turns red and pink, couples go out for nice dinners, singles lament (or celebrate) their singledom and greeting card companies and chocolatiers rake in the cash (guilty). It’s a time to appreciation the love in our lives and hopefully you’ve plenty to love these days. In fact, love and real estate go hand in hand. Putting aside our significant others for the moment (figuratively!), let’s look at what there is to love about real estate (how unromantic, I know):

Real estate offers us the opportunity to massively grow our family wealth beyond the typical stock investment choices. Yes, even when stocks are good, they’re still speculative investments. Unless you have a crystal ball, you don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Investing in real estate gives you more tangible control of where your funds are parked. And who doesn’t love being in control?

Also, investing in stocks means giving up control of your investments to company officers you’ll never meet in headquarters you’ll never visit located thousands of miles away. Does that make you feel warm and cozy? Same here. Being a real estate investor means controlling your funds — you decide where, how and when to invest.

Real estate investing also lets you lock in instant equity by buying houses below market value. Ever tried buying stocks below market value? Exactly – doesn’t quite work that way, does it? Buying real estate at discount means having a safety margin should the housing market dip. Practice safe investing!

You know what else I love about real estate? The trust factor. Just as you trust your spouse or boy/girlfriend to be there for you, so can you build trust in your real estate relationships — your real estate agent, your mortgage broker, your general contractor — because it’s LOCAL. Unless you’re investing outside the Hawaii real estate market, your real estate contacts are here in the islands and that goes a long way in getting your goals achieved.

Finally, I love the fact that we live in an age where information is plentiful and the achievers in life do so based on integrity, innovation and service. When housing and market data are an open book to the general Internet-savvy public, it’s who we are on the inside that ultimately determines our success in real estate and life in general. They say “beauty is only skin deep”, and that goes for real estate as well – integrity will always shine through.

So enjoy your Valentine’s Day with whomever you choose to spend it with (my fiancee and I are going to check out Town restaurant in Kaimuki), and remember to love all the opportunities you have in life.