Seventeen years ago, on Super Bowl Sunday, my now husband, our Reatlor, Linda, and I put our offer together to purchase the cutest, 1950s rambler in West Fargo, while eating french fries in the booth at the nearby McDonalds. We were thrilled to get the chance to purchase our first home, even with a 6.5% interest rate.
I look back now, and think what if we would have waited.
If we would have waited, I would not have been proposed to in the living room, on Christmas at our first home together. If we would have waited, our parents would not have been able to stay with us when they came to visit. If we had waited, that home might still need a paint job.
If we would have waited, we would not have built the equity we did allowing us to buy our next home, a rambler in the town we now call home, Harwood.
We did not purchase the home in Harwood because interest rates dropped, we bought it because we built equity in our first home allowing us to move to the slightly slower pace of this small town, just north of Fargo. Because of the equity in our first home that we did not wait to purchase, we were able to make that dream a reality.
Our third move as silly as it is, was only a block away from that perfect little Harwood rambler as it was time for a little more space. We again did not move because the interest rates dropped, we moved because, we had the equity to do so and knew that was the best thing for our family.
If we would have waited, we would not have been able to refinance our favorite home thus far at the incredible interest rate. If we waited, someone else would be taking advantage of that in the place we now call home.
So now, as you wait for the interest rates to drop, think about what it might cost you? Will it cost you memories in your new home, will it cost you equity built by time, will it cost you over paying in a competitive market?
My advice, don't wait, start making the memories, building the equity and be ready for what might be next because you did not wait.
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