Luxury Real Estate

 By Jim Walberg of Caribbean Islands Realty

When a yacht leaves the docks for sailing adventure, the family and friends of the crew are standing on the dock waving your hands goodbye, and shouting “Do not be fearful!” This well known sailor’s mantra is because the crew have no idea what is going to happen during their voyage.

This phrase, “Do not be fearful,” is in many aspects of my life, not just sailing. How about real estate today. It is the phrase that is used by both the crew and the family and friends staying behind. My experience with this mantra is based on the fact that no one knows what will ever happen on a sailing adventure. The only certainty this is known by the crew and their family and friends is the latitude and longitude of the destination of the voyage. What happens from the moment you set sail to the moment you drop anchor at your destination is what is called “a sailing adventure”, or maybe we could substitute it with a business phrase - “a real estate adventure.”I could write a book about all of the unexpected events that have happened to me on many sailing adventures I have participated in the past 50 years. It is OK to have a healthy sense of fear for what may lie ahead, but fear does not prevent the sailor from setting sail, even by knowing the challenges that will be faced during the voyage. Someone that lets fear stop them from setting sail to a familiar or new destination is called a “landlubber”, not a sailor. So, fear can either serve you or it can paralyze you. I chose to have it serve me, even though I have been in some very scary moments during my life.

One example of my 50+ years of sailing adventures was during a sailboat delivery on the west coast from San Francisco to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico. The sailboat was a MacGregor 65 that is a “rocket ship” that is only twelve feet wide and sixty-five feet long, and is primarily used for racing. It is not considered a “blue water” sailing vessel. It is just built for speed - 12 to 14 knots for a mono-hull, which is VERY fast! However, the MacGregor design is known to break up in moderate seas because of it being so narrow and light.

Off the Santa Barbara Islands our crew of four decided we better stress the boat to the max to see if there were any flaws that could be uncovered before we got into Mexican waters. We put all the sails up on a day of 20+ knot winds. Within minutes the boom broke in half with me standing next to it. It smacked me on my bald head and knocked me overboard.My crew mates acted quickly - another important trait of a sailor, and turned the yacht back into the wind, threw me a life preserver, and slid the boat gently beside me and snagged me with a mooring hook so as to bring back aboard. They then lashed to boom together and the “adventure” began of how we could design a sail pattern that would allows to limp into the San Diego for repairs.

As a sailor you need to constantly improvise during these types of moments which requires focused and inventive mind. With the boom broken in half you can’t use your mainsail effectively. So, we rigged it to use the jib and “jerry rigged” the main so we had a small portion of it in the wind. The repair was completed in less than a day, and we were off to Cabo for another successful delivery. Another sailing adventure was placed into the ship’s log book.

Here is the point of my story. The only way a person gets to “new shores” is by being on the “yacht” when it sets sail - in spite of your fears. In the midst of the continued world economic crisis there is fear and trembling happening with Realtors and their customers. Today is THE real estate market. There is no wishing it was different. It will not change because of wishing. So, we need to adapt, have a focused and curious mind as to how to solve the “challenges” that are presented to us each day, and create magnificent outcomes for each of them. I would rather be in the midst of a life adventure any day, as opposed to standing on the sidelines paralyzed with fear, and missing the experience. Let me know some of your experiences where fear was overcome in spite of it being present. Your Caribbean lifestyle detective remains on duty. Until next time….fair winds!