Goal Setting – Our New Home

Yesterday was the closing day of our new home. Trish and I have been looking at homes for the past 6 months. This isn’t an easy process. It takes a lot of effort and persistence. More than anything it took a lot of mental preparation.

Exploring Our Goal

Our goal from the very beginning has been to buy a home. We’ve been renting for a few years and were ready to take the plunge into home ownership. When we began exploring houses in the first few months we weren’t exactly sure what we wanted. We started looking at town homes but after seeing a few we decided it wasn’t a good fit. So we switched gears and started to look at semi-detached houses. After seeing a few of these we realized that the semi’s were a little out of our price range. We could afford this size house but it would mean eating rice-patties for next couple of years.

Getting Clear

After about 4 months of looking we finally came to a decision. A friend of ours had rented out their basement in their previous house and we thought this might work for us. The basement rental would help out with the house payments so we wouldn’t have to sacrifice our current lifestyle. So we started looking at semi-detached homes that were finished with a basement apartment. The same day we decided this I wrote out a 1/2 page detailed description of the house we were looking for.

Three weeks after our decision we were notified that our condo was up for sale and that we would have to move out. Things were starting to move – talk about the Law of Attraction in action.

Six weeks after I wrote out the house description we found our house. Trish got an email from our buyer agent and she just knew it was the one. When were going to homes we would rate the house out of 10 so that we could compare them. When I asked Trish what she scored this particular house, she said, “It’s a ten.” It was a done deal.

We made an offer and immediately went into negotiations with the seller. After we made the deal I was sitting at my home office desk and noticed the written description of the house pinned up on our cork board. I pulled it down and noticed it was almost exactly the same as the house we just bought. I was amazed to see the similarities. Our house had three bedrooms, an open concept kitchen with a deck and a separate basement apartment to boot. It was located in a great location and in a quiet neighborhood. It was perfect.

The thing that Trish and I learned from this experience is that it’s important to know what you want. With any goal it’s important to be clear on what you want. Once you’re clear, your goals will come running to you.

How To Know If You’re Clear

The best way to get clear on your goals is write them out. If you write out your goal and somebody else isn’t able to understand what you’re asking for then you know you’ve got some work ahead of you. Write out your goals so that it’s clear to you and to others.

If you aren’t in a place where you have a clear goal then begin to ask yourself the questions that you need answered. In our case this meant doing more research, speaking with friends and family, speaking with our buyer agent and our lawyer.

Getting clear on your goals will help you get them faster. So get out there and get going… your goals are waiting for you to discover them.

4 Comments

  • Angela

    Reply Reply July 17, 2007

    Congratulations on the new house. Matt and I are so happy for you guys. We’re in the midst of packing right now. Talk about chaos. Good job on the goals. It will come in handy when we’re thinking of buying. Thanks, Angela.

  • Steve

    Reply Reply July 17, 2007

    Thanks Angela,

    Trish and I can’t wait to get moving either – I can already taste the coffee and bailey’s on the new deck.

    Cheers,

    Steve

  • Julian

    Reply Reply July 19, 2007

    Steve & Trish,

    Great work on the house! Now that you’ve ‘attracted’ the house you want, what’s next??

    Congratulations – Julian.

    PS
    Great Blog Steve.

  • Steve

    Reply Reply July 19, 2007

    Hi Julian – love the feedback,

    thanks for your continued support,

    Steve

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