Solano Real Estate Scene: There’s plenty of career opportunities right now

The positive way to look at a crisis is to search for opportunities that result from the crisis. After 2008, residential and commercial construction projects dried up in Northern California, and even the most hard-working skilled carpenters and plumbers with steady jobs had their hours cut and my union journeyman clients and friends had some periods of unemployment. Kids often follow in their parent’s footsteps, but during the Great Recession, many young people saw their parents and mentors do short sales, fight for loan modifications, which were often denied, and lots of people with 700-plus FICO scores who never had a financial problem previously had no choice but to file bankruptcy or walk away from their homes. Many young people who may have decided to enter an apprenticeship in construction like their mom and dad did not because the job market looked so bleak. From 2008 to 2014, there were few job opportunities in construction and when construction came roaring back in 2015, large and small contractors had a shortage of skilled labor, which created opportunities for new people, but especially benefited experienced workers with higher wages, benefits and lots of overtime this past six years, and the labor shortage still exists. Good credit is required to buy a home, but the most important part of a loan application is income and income stability. In other words, if someone has an credit score of 800 but only makes $3,000 per month, purchasing a home will be nearly impossible in California. This reopening after the pandemic is a huge opportunity for people to make career changes because there are help wanted signs everywhere and it is not just restaurants, hotels and airlines. The news is reporting that many folks are content and happy to stay home and take the stimulus government money, and I suppose they think they will always be able to get a job later when it runs out, but I think that is a big mistake because it is right now that the opportunity exists and if they land a great job now, they will have seniority and a head start over the people hired in 2022.