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My favorite market timing story was the family who built a sailboat in West Vancouver. Lots of these in back yards all over the PNW, but this guy actually finished his--just as the Vancouver market was hitting one of his periodic peaks (1981). They put their house up for sale, cashed out, loaded the kids on the sailboat--and off they went for more almost two years of adventures.
They came back to a crashed real estate market--and the dad realized that for sailing local waters, he would want a smaller boat, so they sold the boat, took the proceeds and bought a nicer house than the one they previously owned, and had cash left over...
If you can't be smart, it's good to be lucky!
(Mind you--that was the last real low point in the metro Vancouver market, which had defied its past history of peak/crash by climbing steadily and inexorably, driven by cheap domestic money--and boatloads of Asian and other cash. So probably a one-time, not repeatable experience.)
As for us, we would probably break even after transactions costs and renovation costs if we cashed out--not exactly a remunerative way to spend a decade restoring an old house...
Last edited by paredown; 04-28-2021 at 11:34 AM.
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