Location Location Location

Real Estate conversations have dominated the sidebar discussion I have been having with folks. While in Charlestown, I walked through a house in 'short sale", and several of my friends have kids who are beginning to buy houses. The housing bubble and today's foreclosure flood has reframed the historical rules of thumb for buying houses.

I refuse to give up on the rules of real estate that I grew up on:

(1) Buy based on Location, Location, Location.
(2) Buy more than you think you can afford (it is a great forced savings plan)
(3) Put the least down (without PMI) and finance fixed for 30 years (inflation always exists even if it is only 3%)
(4) Don't think of a home as an investment (this is why there was a housing bubble)
(5) Never buy a house when, as you are walking through it, you begin to say "We can change that.... we can modify this ......
(6) Never participate in a multiple bid situation
(7) Use the inspection to convince yourself not to buy - which will make you a better negotiator for the final price
(8) Remember it is just a house - not a home. It becomes a home after you move in.

Finally - the last rule comes with a story. After great angst and effort when Susan and I were shopping for a new home (notice the word home) to live in just after Jenna was born, we offered on the Brill house (way outside our comfort zone financially). When I showed the inspection report to my Uncle Maurice (who was an agent as a hobby - and an outspoken Air Force military man), he looked it over and informed me the Brill house had aluminum wiring.

He then added, "There are two kinds of houses with aluminum wiring - those that have burned down ....... and those that are going to burn down." - Rule #9