The other day, Seth Godin (one of my favorite authors) wrote a post on his blog titled “How to buy a house“. Seth shared some good advice. Advice which holds true during both buyers markets and sellers markets and in every local real estate market across the U.S. including the Spring Texas real estate market.
Seth’s advice was not about the process of buying and closing on a house but rather about how you should think about buying a house. Thinking …. you do a lot of it when you are buying a house. Sometimes your thinking will be logical and other times it will be short-sighted and emotional.
Seth’s advice #5 is “When you buy a big house or an expensive house, you are making a statement to your in-laws, your family, your neighbors and yourself. Nothing wrong with that, but the question you must ask yourself is, “how big a statement can I afford?”” Money. You probably could have guessed it would get down to the money. Life is full of financial twists and turns and if you live within your means you will be able to handle the roller coaster ride.
Seth’s advice #7 is “By the time you buy a house, you probably have a family. Which means that this is a joint decision, a group decision, a decision made under stress by at least two people, probably people that don’t have a lot of practice talking rationally about significant financial decisions that also have emotional and social underpinnings.” Buyers need to be open and honest with each other when deciding upon which Spring Texas house to buy. If they are not, I can just about guarantee a knock down drag out fight about the house will be in there future with one of the buyers saying “I never liked this house anyway.”
Seth’s advice #10 is “You’re probably not going to be able to flip your house in nine months for a big profit. Maybe not even nine years.” This is sound advice especially for the Spring Texas real estate market. Over the last several years, our real estate market has experienced an annual price appreciation of 1% to 2%. Buyers who view their house solely as a financial investment are bound to be disappointed with these small returns. Buy a house you love because a house is much more than a financial investment.
