June 21st, 2010 - Weddings, Buying a House and Reality
My daughter recently opened a concierge service for Brides. We have been amazed at how many women have been dreaming about their weddings since they were very little girls. The problem is; that when they actually get engaged they are shocked to learn how much they didn’t know about the process. The cost of the actual wedding is astounding and they quickly learn that they have to have a bigger budget than they anticipated.
This is also what happens when you buy a house for the first time. You dream about the kind of house you are going to buy, you envision raising your kids there and you think you will stay there for many years. Then reality sets in! You need more money, you have to compromise, and you have to live farther out into the country than you wanted to live to get the house you really want. This is when you have to make some major decisions.
There’s the hard way to buy real estate and there’s the easy way. This isn’t your parents or your grandparents market. This is a totally new ballgame! There are people out there who will say anything to get you to buy a house. The banks are not interested in protecting you, if the house is a foreclosure, then you get what you pay for.
In the early 1990′s we moved away from “Buyer Beware” but then the industry circled right back to it. So “Caveat Emptor” and have a good day! So beware and still use a buyers agent.