Taking my own advice

The other day, I found myself sitting in my car, as is often the case when I’m wrapping up a phone call with a client, giving my buyer clients the advice I needed to hear myself right at that moment:

“If you’re turning yourself into a pretzel before you make an offer on the house, it’s probably not the house for you.”

Setting the scene, a couple weeks ago I was considering a home for our family that fit several of our criteria, but not everything. It had two separate living areas and a really nicely finished lower level, but was missing a basement/workshop space. When you own 9 bikes (and...counting) this is pretty critical. And the need for a space that’s not in the main living area as a holding zone for the detritus that comes with two toddlers is a serious one too.

Tyler and I had gone back and forth on how we could repurpose an existing space, add on to the house over time, build a new backyard shed, etc. to make the house work for our purposes. We were turning ourselves into pretzels, before we even moved in.

“If you’re not all in, you’re all out.”

Writing an offer is a straightforward process, once the strategy is defined. For some reason I just couldn’t get myself to put the offer documents together. I paid attention to this sense of resistance. I knew that if I really wanted the home, I’d be motivated and excited to put the paperwork together and gather the required signatures. But I just wasn’t all in. 

“Try this as a thought experiment. Go to sleep tonight and pretend you’ve won the house, then see how you feel when you wake up in the morning.”

In my case, I turned this one around and went to sleep pretending we hadn’t gone for the house, and I felt great in the morning. We’re still in our tiny home for the foreseeable future, but we’re not going to squeeze ourselves into a new spot that, while it’s bigger, would ultimately force us to confront some of the same issues we have here. And I’ll keep listening to my own advice.