27 | Homebuying Series: The Features Always Sound Good

The features always sound good - a two-car garage, ample storage space, beautiful landscaping, extra bedrooms, etc. will sound convenient and comfortable to many people.

Zillow is going to highlight each of these wonderful features too.

In a sneaky way, this begs us to use the "features" to establish our preferences instead of establishing our preferences to evaluate the "features".

"This house has a beautiful front porch that might increase the chance we meet some neighbors" is wildly different from "We desire to rub shoulders with our neighbors on a daily basis, so we will look for a house that has a front porch”.

“This house has a large yard that will give our kids a chance to play outside" is wildly different from "We want our children to learn to play and enjoy outdoor spaces, so we will look for houses with large yards”.

"This house has tons of storage space that will be great to have in case we need it" is wildly different from "We need extra space to store things that are critical to our current and future well-being, so we will look for a house that has plenty of storage space”.

This might seem like splitting hairs, but when the house in reality is inevitably different from what it was in theory, the difference in intention dramatically impacts the odds of experiencing lasting contentment or lingering regret.

Simon Sinek says it in relation to business, but I think it applies to the modern-day homebuying experience too...

When you have a clear sense of your "why", you tend to ignore all the distracting features. When you have a fuzzy sense of your "why", you tend to obsess over all the features.