What you need most from me is someone who will listen to your needs, keep within your budget and help you to make a sound investment on a home that you can grow in and absolutely love for years to come.
What I need most from you is for you to listen to your needs, for you to keep within your budget and for you to help yourself to make a sound investment on a home that you can grow in and absolutely love for years to come.
The Joneses aren’t going to pay your bills.
You said you needed:
- Nice affordable home, priced closer to the middle of your price range so that you aren’t house poor – check!
- Home in one of your desired neighborhoods – check!
- Located in an award winning school district – check!
- 4 bedrooms, one with a room downstairs for mother-in-law with bad knees – check!
- Large backyard for kids to play in – check
So why are you now looking in an area for a bigger house that you think will impress friends more, has all upstairs bedrooms, with a small backyard that abuts an alley, in an area in which expensive private schooling is mandatory for a decent education?
Not only will you be trying to keep up with the Jones’s with every purchase of a newer car, bigger flat screen, exotic trips and anniversary gifts, but your mom will stop visiting as much because she will not have any comfortable place to sleep – there goes your built-in babysitter. In addition to your higher mortgage, you will have to spend a pretty penny on getting a quality education for the kids as well. Remember the Joneses aren’t going to pay your bills.
I have seen a change in course from buyers of all ages the more they are “advised” from coworkers, family and friends about their home purchase.
I’m not your parent or your boss, I’m your REALTOR. It is not up to me to lecture you on the stress of an extremely high mortgage and what it does to families, but is up to me to caution you about it when it doesn’t have to happen. You have many great options that will make you happy, if not happier. There’s nothing better than having very happy clients that thank you for giving them just enough independence to draw their own conclusions and make sound decisions, while at the same time being close enough for soft guidance and mild but firm intervention when you see them headed down dead-end roads called Jones St. or Emotion Ave.