Switching teams and moving to a new city can be a very stressful time especially for the women of the household. Here are few tips to help put things into perspective: 1. Research: To familiarize yourself with the housing market in your new team’s city, two great resources are Apartments.com and Realtor.com, be careful with Zillow because a lot of the information is out of date. You can use Google Maps to help estimate travel times to the stadium and team facility. You may also want to look up the team’s roster, you may realize that you know someone already with the team that can give you tips on what areas to live in.
2. Consult with a local Realtor: Whether you are going to rent a furnished/unfurnished apartment, rent a privately owned home or purchase a home, a local Realtor will be able to educate you about the area and lay out tons of options for you.
3. Decide on whether you should rent or buy: If my client signs a contract of 3 years or more, I always encourage them to purchase a home either in the city where they play or in the city that they will eventually retire in. Renting a home for 3 or more years can easily add up to close to $100,000. If you purchase instead, not only will you potentially gain a profit when you sell later on but you can also use the home as an income property if you have to move to a different team (my fiancé and I did this by renting our furnished home to one of his former teammates during the season and made a nice profit!) Be sure to speak to your financial advisor about what is best for your portfolio.
4. Lease Tip: If renting a privately-owned home or condominium is the best option for you, be sure to have your Realtor add clauses to your lease that will protect you in the long run. One example is, I usually add in that my clients can end their lease with 60-days notice with a penalty of 1 month’s rent. This gives your landlord time to find another tenant and gives you an out if something doesn’t work out with the team. You can also request that your lease rollover to a month-to-month lease at lease end, this will give you time at the end of the lease term to plan your next move.
5. Don’t rush: As the women of the household, our first priority is always to provide a stable home environment for our significant other but it is important not to rush into anything. It’s okay to utilize the temporary housing provided by the team for a few weeks. Go to the town, drive around a bit, have a Realtor set up a few tours for you to see things in person and most importantly make sure that the decision you make makes the most sense for your long time financial goals. For questions or more real estate tips, feel free to contact me anytime at [email protected]!
