Well, it's the end of 2010... a "real estate year" I'd like to forget (or at least replace) - You know, like how the professor would let you take a test and have it replace your lowest grade? I feel like I've been in the ring for 5 rounds (2006, '07, '08, '09, '10) with Mike Tyson in his prime. The good news is that I'm still standing... and he's getting tired from punching me:-)
We spent the day Wednesday on board the USS Gettysburg at Mayport Naval Station in Jacksonville. She is a 9,500"+" ton, nearly 600 feet long, 55 foot beam, 33 foot draw Guided Missile Cruiser. A real bruiser of a US warship, with a crew of over 30 officers and 330 sailors (men and women). As a 20 year US Army Veteran, it was great to get a backstage look at the Navy. Talking to the men and women on that ship reinforced the fact that we have good people protecting our interests. The ship's Captain, in his opening remarks, said it well. He referred to our military forces (as well as community law enforcement and fire/rescue personnel), as "those who run TO the emergencies of life, rather than AWAY from them." I liked that and it sums up a boat load of emotion.
It really got me thinking about that part of my life, blended with my second career as a Real Estate Broker. Here's the rub... Many civilians, over their careers, use the build up of home equity as a significant part of their retirement nest egg. Perhaps they bought a starter home when newly married for $100,000 and over the span of 30-40 years "moved away and moved up" maybe 4 times. Then, in their 60's, their current home is worth $600,000 - very plausible in many parts of the country. As a sales agent and broker in Fairfax, Virginia for 15 years, I helped a lot of corporate types, as well as FBI, CIA, Secret Service, etc. and a lot of Government senior executives. When they moved, as a necessity of their job, they got a "relocation benefit package." If the market was in a down cycle, Big Brother picked up the difference! They couldn't lose!
Not so for the military men and women at the Pentagon, Bolling Air Force Base, Fort Belvoir Army Base, Quantico Marine Base, or Norfolk Naval Base. Nope, if they took a chance and bought a home... and got transfer orders in a down market, they basically had two choices: 1. Sell at a loss, or 2. Turn it into a rental property and not be able to buy a home at the new duty station. I know I had myopic vision on this, yet I always wondered why those in harm's way got a lesser deal than those in the less harsh realities?
Anyway, we won't solve that here. And as we cut costs to reduce the national debt, I doubt we ever will. It's Christmas now and our forces are deployed in many places, where hateful, radical elements wish them harm. Thank God for their sacrifice and dedication. I wish for peace like the next guy, but the reality of human nature says it will never happen. It is their selfless duty which makes this a great place to live. In most of the world, home ownership is not possible...
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