There's a difference between a house and a home

When talking about buying real estate, we often find the words "house" and "home" used interchangeably. But there's a big difference between a house and a home.

A house is a place to eat, sleep, park your car, and put your stuff. A house is a material possession and an investment. A house is something you buy logically.

A home is where you feel comfortable, warm, safe, and protected. A home is where you live, and share good times with family and friends. A home is an emotional purchase.

When buying real estate, we ought to balance our emotional wants and our logical needs. There will almost certainly be times when the two conflict.

For example, you may want a house with a pool, but the monthly payments are higher than you're comfortable with. What should you do? Purchase the house anyway and budget more carefully for the next few years? Buy a similar house without the pool at a cheaper price? Make a larger down payment by borrowing from your RSP or family to reduce the monthly mortage bill? Or buy a smaller house with a pool?

I find that buyers typically look at a property emotionally and try to envision a safe, happy, comfortable home. But later, when making an offer or filling out a mortgage application, logic sometimes begins to kick in.

The trick in buying real estate is to view decisions with both logical and emotional perspectives. Logic should win the big conflicts, but emotion should always be a factor, even winning the small ones. You'll find yourself owning a warm, happy, safe home... as well as an investment for the future at a price you can afford.

 Bud  budloughlin@royallepage.ca