Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Approved


Today was something of a big day for the Peanut family, in that we received official word that we are pre-approved for a mortgage. This is the first step in the home buying process, and we are all feeling simultaneously excited and scared. I have been looking forward to owning a home for a long time, and it makes me happy to know that there are people willing to lend us the money to do it. At the same time, though, we are faced with the reality of actually having to make a decision about which house, in which neighborhood, with which features, for which price. All of it can be a little bit frightening, and I'm beginning to think that it is all made worse by the internet.

Using the internet for research in purchasing a house can be a wonderful thing. We can view pictures of just about every house on the market in the Twin Cities area. We can see the dimensions of each room, the age of the roof, and the mechanical updates made to the property. But the internet can also be damaging to the process, because it give us too. many. options.

I read an article recently in which the author made the point that the internet is one of the tools in our society that has caused us to lose the concept of "good enough." For example, if someone wanted to buy a lawn mower thirty years ago, he was likely to go to a store or two, look at the options and pick one. And, guess what? That lawn mower was probably good enough. Yes, there may have been another more ideal lawn mower out there somewhere, but the one he purchased probably did the job just fine. If this person had been able to use the internet in order to research his lawn mower, on the other hand, he may have gone insane while comparing all of the options and eventually hired a gardener.

I think that I am going to try to adopt a "good enough" philosophy as we continue in this home search. If I don't, I believe that I will drive myself crazy scouring the internet for something that is just a *little* bit better . . . a *little* bit more ideal. The reality is that, as long as we buy a safe, solid home, we will be happy in our house. We will be together, and the house *will* be good enough.

In the words of one of Mr.'s favorite artists, Tom Waits,

So if you find someone
Someone to have, someone to hold
Don't trade it for silver
Don't trade it for gold
I have all of life's treasures
And they are fine and they are good
They remind me that houses
Are just made of wood
What makes a house grand
Ain't the roof or the doors
If there's love in a house
It's a palace for sure

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