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Real Estate Agent |
RAINER 2,104 |
| Paul Becotte | ||
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location_on
Pemberton, NJ
— Century 21 c. Van Horn Agency
Century 21 Real Estate |
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| web Paul Becotte's (paulbecotte) Blog | ||
I joined the US Air Force as an AGE Mechanic in 2002. AGE is a very jack of all trades occupation- we're responsible for fixing generators, air conditioners, heaters, light carts, hydraulic carts, turbine engines, air compressors, and lots of other random stuff that they use on the flightline to fix the aircraft. I deployed 4 times to the middle east during my career, and made SSgt and TSgt on the first time each time.
However, I was injured in a forklift accident and started looking for a new career... which is how I came to be a real estate agent. I really felt like my organizational skills and follow through would enable me to provide my clients with the best possible service while contemplating one of the biggest few transactions of their life. Fortunately, my broker Alan Cantrell of Century 21 C. Van Horn Agency is an amazing influence who is always there to show me the ins and outs that I may not have experienced yet, and to lend a supporting hand whenever I need it.
I currently live in Browns Mills, NJ where I own my home with my wife Lisa and my two children, Madeline and Pauly. We both graduated from Holy Spirit High School in Absecon. I then attended Villanova University before deciding to serve my country in the Air Force. I have been here in the McGuire AFB/Ft. Dix area my entire career, and truly enjoy the local community-and hope to be able to give a little bit back!
I remember when I bought my first home...me and my wife were both petrified! After living on McGuire AFB base housing for my first several years, I finally committed to going through with the deal. While there were some snags with the deal (as there always are-thankfully the real estate agent we hired was able to keep the deal running smoothly!) it didn't take me very long to realize that it was one of the best decisions of my life. Instead of paying a bunch of money to rent a townhouse in a crowded base community where I had to go sign in guests at the visitor center, I was paying that money (less, actually!) to myself!
It really sank home one day while considering plans for a large fish tank in my family room about how I would like to cut a hole in the wall and put it in there. Suddently I realized that I COULD cut a hole in the wall if I wanted to... it is MY HOUSE!
There are so many benefits to owning your own home. Building your money as an investment, not dealing with the grass nazis on base, being able to make as much noise as I want (well, almost)... the list goes on. While it seemed scary at first between mortgages and down payments and closing costs and whatever, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought and it was WELL worth it in the end!
One of the main reasons I decided to go into this business was to help my fellow military members realize the dream of home ownership. Many of them are not even aware of the VA loan benefit, or that you can sometimes negotiate for the seller to pay some of your closing costs and buy with almost no money down, or that renting is almost always more expensive then buying the same property would be. Especially with the housing market the way it is right now, there are tons of great deals out there that with the price you're paying go a long way towards eliminating the risk of having to sell when they get orders and not getting their money out. With the prices I've seen, I would think the chances of making money on your investment-in addtition to not living in United Communities-are excellent!