If you grew up in the industrialized world, chances are you’ve played the game of Monopoly more than once. Some may think it’s just another board game, but to me it’s more than that. On a micro scale, it provides an opportunity to make decisions & formulate strategies on how to deal with a basic human constraint that we all must cope with on a daily basis – scarcity.

We all have limited resources, whether it be time, money, health, Prozac or Pop-Tarts. Even Donald Trump has a bank account that will hit zero if he doesn’t play the game right. In fact, he’s hit zero three times already.

There are opportunity costs associated with every decision you make in the game. If you don’t have a strategy and a basic understanding of how Monopoly is played, then all the luck in the world can’t help you. Similarly, if you’ve mastered the game and have a solid strategy, a little time in jail might be a great opportunity to unwind and finally get that tattoo of your mother’s name on your chest. Mamas boy!

Now let’s get back to the real world. If you’ve bought or sold property in Saskatchewan, you’ve been playing real life Monopoly. In recent years, serious returns have been made by all who have participated in the game of Saskatoon residential real estate. In fact, since the Saskatchewan housing market started experiencing considerable growth, according to MLS® statistics that we pulled from Jan 2006 to Dec 2014, home owners in Saskatoon have received on average a whopping 115% total increase in the price of their homes.

The savvy real estate investor knows that not all property is created equal. Just because you’re playing in a boom economy, and you just landed on the proverbial “Free Parking,” it doesn’t mean that you’re good at the game. Sure, it will always feel good when you hit Free Parking, but don’t confuse a lucky roll with carefully execution and strategic planning.

If you’ve been playing the game of Saskatoon real estate Monopoly and you’ve invested into Riversdale & surrounding area, congratulations! Your real estate acumen and strategy left other players feeling like the game was rigged. If you were not one of the winners this time around, you’ve come to the right real estate blog. I’ve developed a 4 step strategy that will guarantee your real estate success:

1. Get up & dust yourself off

2. Take a good look at the board

3. Improve your strategy

4. Play again

I learned that one from Donald Trump. You weren’t expecting property pixie dust, were you?

Now that you’ve taken a look at good look at the board, what’s the next strategy? Will Riversdale continue to reward the players that get their hands on it, or do you have your eye on another part of the board?

As always, we encourage copious amounts of discussion here! If this blog post provided you any value (you smiled, laughed, pondered, were less bored, got a tattoo of your mom’s name on your chest, were inspired to play monopoly, etc…), please do us a solid and share this post with your comments and opinions!