Don’t Run Someone Else’s Race: A Guide to Home Decisions

If you’ve been following the news or the economy lately, you probably feel like you’ve got whiplash. Each new report seems to contradict the last, and it can be incredibly confusing. If you’re thinking about buying or selling real estate, every headline raises new questions. Employment appears to be softening, inflation is still a concern, and yet the stock market keeps hitting new highs.

We’ve been having countless conversations with both buyers and sellers about whether now is a good time to make a move. So I thought I’d share some of my thoughts—and a quick story that might help.

A few years ago, my wife and I decided to take up distance running. Neither of us would claim to be gifted runners, but we both really enjoy it—especially trail running. The trail running community is eclectic, to say the least, drawing in all types of people and abilities.

Michal, being the more mature of the two of us, focused on her own pace and ignored the runners around her. I, on the other hand, spent way too much energy sizing up the competition—deciding who I thought I could beat and who would beat me. The problem was, once I started comparing, I stopped running my own race.

I had planned to finish that first trail race in about 2:45. But I went out too fast, hadn’t trained properly for the elevation, and completely fell apart halfway through. I ended up walking a good chunk of the course and finished in 3:30.

So, what does this have to do with real estate? Quite a lot, actually.

When it comes to real estate, distance running is one of the best analogies for how I think about ownership. Each of us has a unique set of financial, personal, and emotional circumstances that shape our decisions. Sure, in hindsight, there are always better or worse times to buy or sell. But the truth is, no one can know those moments before they happen.

If you’re thinking about buying, ask yourself:

• What’s my current financial situation?

• How long do I plan to live in this home?

• What are my main goals for owning?

• Am I emotionally ready and excited about owning right now?

If your motivation is that you “should” buy, you may be running someone else’s race—not your own.

The same goes for selling. Ask the same questions in reverse. If emotions, timing, and life circumstances didn’t matter, we’d never sell a home. I’ve never driven past something I sold ten years earlier and thought, “Wow, I dodged a bullet.”But that doesn’t mean selling was a mistake—it just meant that, at that stage in life, other factors carried more weight.

All of this is a long way of saying: for some of you reading this, now may be the perfect time to buy your first home or an investment property. For others, it may be smarter to wait. And the same applies if you’re thinking about selling.

If you’re not sure how to work through that decision, that’s exactly what we’re here for. Those who know us know we’ll always tell you what we believe is right—even if it costs us a commission in the short term.

Like running your own race, real estate is about making a plan, sticking with it as best you can, and remembering to pick your head up and enjoy the journey.