In this episode of Real Estate Investory, I want to talk about "Relocation Optimization"-- how can we do a relocation properly and save a lot of money while doing it. Stay tuned.

Howdy everyone, welcome back to Real Estate Investory. I'm your host, Or Yochanan. I'm a computer engineer, a licensed Real Estate Agent in Austin Texas and an avid Christopher Nolan fan. In this episode, we're going to talk  about relocation optimizations. Meaning when you move into a new place how can you do it properly without losing a lot of money due to newbie mistakes? So, let's start with the pitfalls. What are the common pitfalls that I'm seeing people Common Pitfalls experiencing when they do a relocation? The main  pitfalls that I'm seeing people falling for are either focusing on the here and now; like renting a place asap only to learn later that they want to break the lease and they don't have a good exit clause. Another common mistake I see people do is renting a property in a nice area that they like, sending the kids to the schools and then when they want to purchase a property  they figure out that this area is completely out of the price range and now they need to do a second relocation shortly after doing the first one. A bad experience. 

Another common mistake is doing a pre-visit to the area, which is excellent, but staying in an area that is completely irrelevant just because you can save 50 bucks a night. It doesn't make any sense. You already came here you spend the time and money and now you're staying in a place that doesn't really teach you anything about your stay, why? So let's do a deep dive and understand the various topics that we want to cover and optimize before doing the actual relocation. 

So the first thing is:  

1. Research - We want to do proper research prior even to visiting the place. So how can we do it? The first way is virtual. Go into Facebook, go into Reddit, go to Meetup, go to Tinder, I don't care. Just meet people online and understand what is their experience. People are already living in the area that you are considering to move in to.  Learn from them; they made some mistakes, they're going to share it with you. Reach out to people with common interest to you, common age group, common hobbies and see what are the things that they like about the place, or what are the things they don't like about the place. If you meet people that have similar hobbies to you, similar situation to you, you can gather a lot of very valuable input. Way better than just Googling and reading some article in some newspaper that doesn't really apply to you. The other thing is speaking with residents. So, if you know that you're going to stay in a certain city, if you're interested in a city or in a neighborhood or any type of location, try to reach out to people that are already living there. 

Ask them:  

"hey, I'm considering being your neighbor. Can I buy a coffee? Can we grab beers together?" Some people would like that. You can socialize with them, you can learn a lot from their experiences and maybe you can meet some new friends. The third thing you should do--and I'm sorry this is the one I hate the most because I feel awkward saying it, but how can I not say it-- consult with a professional! Listen, if you walk with somebody that is highly competent, they know what they're doing and they've done it 100 times in the past, how can they not generate value for you? So, speak with a professional, speak with the person that you can trust, that can help you go through this move and make sure that you meet the right people, see the right areas, do the visit the right way, have an itinerary, etc. It can generate a lot of value. 

Okay, the second thing I want to cover is a;

2. A Visit - Granted, sometimes you can't visit the place prior to the move because you have some restrictions. Maybe your work is too demanding, maybe you don't want to fly without a family  maybe you don't want to fly WITH the family, but the thing is: if you can do a visit, do it. Going through a visit and looking at the location prior to the move can save you some time down the road and make sure that the area is the right area for you. Now, if you're doing a visit, stay in the right place. This is one of the things I see most often. People are flying into Austin, they know they want to live here but they're going to stay in some cheap AirBnB in the middle of nowhere, 30 minutes from the city or from the subject location they're going to move into and it doesn't really make sense to me. You're trying to understand whether this fits you, why are you saving 50 bucks a night to stay nowhere? Stay in the area and see whether it's a good fit. See how long it takes you to get to downtown. See how many people you know in the area. Go to some parks and do whatever you want to do but don't stay in nowhere just to save a buck. The other thing you want to make sure that you have is an itinerary prior to getting there. 

A common mistake is flying into Austin and then people are like "oh, what do I do now? I don't know." Then they try to drive around  or something. So, with my clients I typically give them tours and I explain to them exactly where  to go and locations. You can do it prior. You can do the research, prepare an itinerary, make sure that you have a plan. Don't just fly there and then in the morning scratch your head and  be like "oh, what do I do today?" Have a plan, use the time properly when you're visiting. Focus on the neighborhoods, do not focus on houses. I'm not saying you shouldn't look at houses. Look at houses but focus on the neighborhoods that you like better. I'm saying it because seeing a house remotely (online) is a lot easier than seeing a neighborhood remotely (online). So, I typically tell my clients: when you are visiting you are focusing on the areas that you like. We can also focus on the type of property attributes that you like and we might find a house but that is definitely not the objective. The last thing is kind of similar to the thing from before but reach out to people if you're already visiting Austin (or wherever that you're going to move) speak with people. See if you can learn from their experience; see if you can learn from their mistakes. When you're speaking with people, make sure you don't just get the good things. Ask them about the bad things, too. If you speak with somebody, if they have zero negative things to say about the place, take it with a grain of salt. You want to get the bad things too. You want to make sure you get the full picture. Nowhere is perfect but some areas are a better fit for you and your family compared to maybe somebody else.

So, don't be shy reach out, meet them, grab coffee with them, be friendly. Maybe it will work out; maybe when you're going to move in the future you're going to already know a friend here and it's going to make your life so much  easier. People are nice, you know. Try it out! you have nothing to lose.

The third thing I want to talk about is the term of stay;

3. Term Of Stay - So, you're moving into a new location -- how long are you planning to live there? Meaning, first, how long are you planning to live in the city and then how long are you planning to live in the house? If you're planning to move into the place figure out after a month or two if you like it and then maybe purchase the place it's a completely different strategy than if you're moving there and you know that you're not going to buy anything in the next year or two. So, consider it when you move because it's going to affect how you're going to treat the house. If you're going to stay in a house for a long term, you might want to buy furnishings that fit it and if you're going to stay there for a short term, you might not. Maybe you even want to take a short-term rental instead of getting a whole place doing all the move, furnishings and whatever and then move again. This is something you should consider when you look at the term of stay. The last thing  is understanding the exit clause from the lease.  

If you are leasing a place you want to make sure you understand what happens in case you need to do an early termination. Let's face it, you just moved into this place; you might not like it. You might want to move, you might want to upgrade, you might want to buy a place. In all of these scenarios, if you're doing an early termination to the lease, you want to make sure that you're not going to basically bleed out a bunch of money. While doing it i've seen people who lost thousands of dollars on early termination clause because they didn't really look into that when they moved. They just focus on finding a house with three bedrooms. 

The fourth thing I want mention is ownership of a house;

4. Long Term Considerations - Meaning, if you're moving into an area and you're not buying a place but you plan to rent for now and purchase later, you want to take into account-- you want to make sure that the area that you are moving into is an area that you will be able to purchase down the road, if you so choose. Now, granted, if you are just a couple with no kids it might be easier to move around and it might not be as important, even though it kind of sucks to move, so if you can stay in the same location. It probably has some benefits, but if you do have children, I highly highly advise you to make sure that the area fits your budgetary restrictions. So, even though you're not actually buying a place you should consider whether you would purchase a place in this area today, if you know that you're going to stay there for a long time. If the answer is no, then maybe you should rent somewhere else so you can do this change if it's in your plans anyway.  

The fifth item I want to cover is the overall strategies of real estate when you're moving into a new place;

5. Landing Strategies - the strategies are the following: either you buy a place, you long term lease a place and you short-term lease place. So, buying i'm going to put aside for a minute because it's a different type of topic. I want to talk about the long and short-term leases because in my professional opinion it doesn't really make sense to do a long-term lease from a far. You can actually achieve kind of the same thing with the short term lease. What I mean by that? Move into the area, take a short term lease, look around, see which areas you like better and then if you want to buy or if you want to do long term, do either. But don't do it from a far without understanding the areas properly, getting into a contract for a year and later figuring out what to do. Now, granted, if you have a specific school that you want to visit-- that you want to go to, if the area that you are looking at typically doesn't have any type of listings, maybe do a long-term lease from a far. But, if that is not the case, my advice would be get there short-term, pay a bit more because it's furnished and everything but have a softer landing. You don't need to do the furnishing, you don’t need to do anything. Understand who's who, what is what, where are your friends, where do you like to stay, how long does it take you to commute, all the type of things that you can't really cover when you're just visiting and THEN do a long-term lease. It makes more sense to me. So consider that when you're doing a move. 

Takeaways:

Alright, so what are the takeaways from this video? 

The first one is:  Socialize. Don't be afraid to socialize. Go to those Facebook groups, reach out to people, don't be shy. Landing in an area when you have friends is going to make it so much easier, try it. 

The second thing is: don't save a penny to spend a buck. If you already flew into the place stay in an area that you would consider living in. Get the full experience. If you are considering your next move, take a short-term rental. 

Pay a bit more but get a softer landing and have the flexibility to decide what to do, whether it's a long-term lease, whether it's another short-term lease, or whether it's purchasing a property without breaking the lease early. 

The third thing I want you to take away from this video is: friction isn't free. When you're moving into a new place, it's going to be stressful. Softening your landing can be very very beneficial for you. You can do that by socializing, you can do it by landing in a furnished place and you can do it by doing proper preparation instead of just going into something blindfolded and figuring out what to do down the road. 

And The fourth thing is: remember the long term. So, when you are renting a place think whether you're going to stay there for a long time, understand what type of furnishing to bring, consider whether you plan to purchase a property soon and whether it's within your budget to do it. Because if it's not, maybe you should renting in a different place and don't get yourself into this predicament in which you are already tied into the place even though you can't really afford it.  

Alright, so those are the main takeaways I have. What takeaways do you have? What are the things that you did when you moved into a new place that really helped you? Drop a comment and let me know if this video was valuable to you. 

Please consider liking it, sharing it and, generally speaking, just follow us on social media. We have other videos coming in and we have a lot of other content that should help you save money and understand real estate better. 

Thank you for watching I'll see you on the next one.