Buying

As a real estate consultant, one of my main responsibilities is to ask my clients thoughtful and insightful questions…  so they can gain greater clarity and make easier choices.

When a big decision comes, experience tells me that when you choose to procrastinate, delay or hesitate in making a decision, it may be because you have some level of uncertainty.

In other words, when your values are unclear, your choices are difficult.  My job is to help clarify what’s important, so that your decisions are easier.

To help you gain greater clarity the next time you’re shopping for a home, think about these four simple questions:

1.    What will happen if we buy this home?

This one is pretty straightforward.  Explain the things that will happen as a result of buying.  Be sure to explain the good and bad, and everything in between that you can think about.

2.    What will happen if we don’t buy this home?

What is the “missed opportunity” if you choose not to buy it?  How will your life be different ten years from now if you didn’t end up buying it?

3.    What won’t happen if we buy this home?

This one examines the sacrifices that happen as a result of your decision to buy.  What will you lose by buying?  Will you have less money or more?  Less time or more?  The answer is different for everyone.

4.    What won’t happen if we don’t buy this home?

This is the most challenging question to wrap your head around.  The double-negative is not exactly the same as question #1.  I sometimes like to re-phrase this as, “If we don’t buy this home, what’s likely to NOT happen with our life?”

These four simple questions help you get unstuck and move through your decision quickly and happily.

Ask each question independently, and it’s best to take some time to write down your answers.  Take your time – it’s a big choice to buy anything… especially a home.

Experience shows me that when you take the time to deeply understand yourself from these four points of view, you make better choices.

Give the four questions a try and let me know how they work for you.