When it comes to buying a house, I am a strong believer that everything has to cosmically come together. location, layout, size, view, facing, airflow, price, and most importantly, the ‘feeling’ you get when you step in. Sure, I have a (long) list of criteria which I have shared before on this blog, but there really isn’t any science to it.
I was brought up in a household where going to view houses over the weekend was considered quality family time, and probably saw more than a hundred properties by the time I was 10. Only a couple of them eventually materialized into purchases, but when they did, we knew they were the crème de la crème.
That’s why I get awfully peeved when housing agents drill me for a reason why I’m not interested in a certain property, and then try to rationalize it away.
The traffic’s too loud. No lah, you just need to shutter your windows and turn the music up.
It’s too small. No lah, it is actually quite ok if you threw out your entire closet and kept just two articles of clothing.
The location is too far away. No lah, it’s way better than Pulau Ubin already.
Some one seriously did try to argue that last one with me.
As if I would be getting the biggest investment on my life based on some crazy compromise.
Today, I read in a magazine News correspondent Glenda Chong’s interesting theory on buying a house; she said : You don’t choose a house, the house chooses you. What a nice, concise way of putting it. I should try that on silly agents next time.
Unfortunately, the houses that “choose me” are often way (and I mean WAAAYY) out of my price range. :p
