Everyone should overspend on rent at least once before they buy their first house.

This isn’t rocket science, but given the hit real estate market, it needs to be said.

Buying a home, especially for the first time is a an extremely stressful and fun experience at the same time. There are so many technical mistakes that first time home buyers can make including but not limited to:

• Buying in the wrong location
• Underestimating what a “fixer-upper” means for your time and money
• Not fully understanding property taxes before you buy (if you’re in Texas, they will slash your buying power tremendously)
• Not being patient enough to save a higher down payment, and thus getting a higher interest rate. The difference between 3 and 4% is potentially tens of thousands of dollars, and hundreds per month on you payment
• Rushing/forgoing ALL insepections, even on new builds
• Buying for more than you need…

The list goes on for miles, but I’m going to focus on the last one, becuase it’s the hardest to spot and also the hardest to correct, because we have to battle with our egos and really ask ourselves what our true motives are for choosing the house you chose. Interestingly, this same problem is what prevents many people from even saving up enough for a down payment in the first place, because they choose to overspend on their rental choices. I was guilty of this, and it’s a lesson that can help a lot of people not do what I did.

So here is my main point: not only do you probably not need the amount of house you want, you will almost certainly be significantly happier with less. Every additional square foot is more cost, maimtence, space to do with furniture you hardly use, and just more weight on your life that keeps you stagnant. People can very easily focus more on the maintenance and acquisition of “stuff” than more important things like hobbies, skills, social lives, investing in your business, etc.

You should almost never need along term storage facility, if you do, then you over extended and overconsumed. Sure, they are great for when you are moving or downsizing, but it absolutely ridiculous to rent out yet more space specifically for stuff you never use!

So before you go house shopping, if you don’t believe what I am saying, I recommend trying this experiment.