Have you ever heard Dave Ramsey’s homebuying advice, “Buy the least expensive home in the best neighborhood you can afford?”
Well, my husband Mike and I have a different strategy for home buying. We were determined not to stretch ourselves thin and become “house rich and cash poor”. If we had followed that advice, we would have paid a lot more and had a much larger mortgage payment.
Our go-to strategy is to start from the bottom of your price range and work your way up.
If we had started our search in the best neighborhood we could afford, of course we would have liked what we saw! Our expectations would have been anchored to the top of our price range, and everything else would have looked inferior by comparison.
Instead, we like to learn what inventory looks like at every price point. If you start at the bottom of your range and work your way up, you begin to understand the product and tradeoffs at each price point, including location, layouts, crime, schools, shopping, amenities, and whether the home is a fixer-upper or move-in ready.
In a post-pandemic environment in which home prices had doubled, we got creative and started looking at homes that others might overlook. We bought a lovely home in a safe neighborhood that needed a cosmetic facelift—nothing a fresh coat of paint couldn’t fix!