The recent 3rd Quarter downward trajectory of the stock market has been taking a large portion of our nation’s business news lately. After all many homeowners are invested in stocks, bonds, etc.
This makes for the always interesting question: Do you see your home as “Home Sweet Home” or as one of your investments? Let me just say right away that either way or both are ok!
How you view your home is important however. If you view it as an investment, then you’re apt to want to read articles supporting the rise in property values and you will most likely judge the value of any improvement you make by how much it will increase (or decrease) the value of the home.
If you view your home as your castle, your refuge, or your long term abode, then articles about market pricing trends may not appeal to you that much. Also, you may not give a rip that adding “aging-in-place” features such as grab bars may hurt the value of your home (hey, you just don’t want to fall) or that painting the interior your favorite colors of pink and green may raise the eyebrows of friends and family. After all, they’re YOUR favorite colors, anyway.
Most of us however seem to fall in the middle camp where we want to see our home appreciate in value, but also care about enjoying it day by day. I guess that would be the “having your cake and eating it too” option.
I recently discussed this very issue with my client Pam before she went all in on buying her dream home she calls the “This is the ONE!” home. Pam had come to a place where she felt she was buying at the very top end of her affordability range and it was beginning to make her nervous. According to her, she had always been pretty tightfisted in her expenditures, and from what I could tell, it had served her well.
After knowing Pam for 3 years however, I knew something of her financial situation because she had shared some of it with me. She had a California State Retirement pension, another home in Long Beach with good equity that she would be renting out, and her own mortgage advisor had told her she was in great shape to qualify for the conventional mortgage she was getting. Knowing these facts helped me to encourage Pam to feel blessed about her financial situation AND to enjoy her new Phoenix home at the same time.
