For many, buying a dream home is a complex process that involves careful planning, budgeting, and compromise. Victoria Devine, a financial advisor and host of She’s on the Money, recently shared her own experiences with buying a home, highlighting the emotional traps that can come with it.
Devine, who is known for her mix of emotional and logical approach to finance, found herself getting caught up in the emotional aspect of buying a home. She would often walk past a particular dream home, imagining her life and family in it, and getting hung up on certain features like a bathtub.
Emotional Decision-Making
According to Devine, people often enter the home-buying process with a rational mindset, but as soon as they walk into a potential home, emotions take over. She notes that every extra $50,000 can start to feel justifiable, even if it’s not within their original budget.
Devine doesn’t think that emotions should be stripped out of the home-buying process entirely. Instead, she recommends finding a balance where emotions are allowed to play a role, but only after the finances have been carefully considered.
This approach allows homebuyers to have an emotional reaction to a potential home, but only within the boundaries of their budget. As Devine puts it, “your heart still gets a vote; it just doesn’t get the deciding vote on the budget.”
Affording Your Dream Home
To avoid overstretching your finances, Devine recommends defining what a dream home means to you and doing the rational work before starting your search. This includes getting clear on your numbers, knowing your borrowing capacity, and working out your own comfortable borrowing capacity.
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It’s also important to “build in breathing room” to account for changes in interest rates, income, and other unexpected expenses. Devine notes that your dream home should add to your life, not leave you financially terrified every month.
For Devine, the atmosphere of a home is also important. She wants her home to feel welcoming and open to all, which is why she prioritizes entertaining and having a “guest-ready” home. She shares her tips for making entertaining easy, including having a good cleaning routine, a well-stocked pantry, and a reliable coffee machine.
Devine’s approach to home-buying and entertaining is centered around creating a life that feels welcoming and enjoyable. As she puts it, “I’d much rather have a home that’s actually lived in and full of people I love.” Her home is always ready for guests, with a good cleaning routine and a well-stocked pantry.
By prioritizing the life and people that make a house feel like a dream, Devine is able to create a home that truly feels like her own. And as she notes, finding your dream home may not be about the house itself, but about the life and memories that you create within it. The homeownership experience is unique to each individual, and Devine’s approach highlights the importance of considering your own needs and priorities when searching for a home.
Creating a Welcoming Home
She also keeps a batch of cookie dough in the freezer, which can be baked into fresh cookies with just 15 minutes’ notice. “My biggest entertaining tip is to make it easy enough that you’ll actually do it. I always have a bottle of red, white and sparkling ready to go, with the white and sparkling already in the fridge.
I’ll also always have olives, nuts and chips in the pantry, so if someone drops in, there’s something I can put out immediately. A really good coffee machine is another one for me. Having fresh coffee and milk at home means catching up at our place can be just as nice as meeting at a cafe, especially when friends are dropping in casually.”
