Years before I got into real estate, I remember a family who decided they wanted to buy a house. I think one of the parents worked with my mother as a teacher, but whatever -- it's the commitment they made to buy that I've remembered all these years.

They knew they needed to save money, so they went into overdrive during the summer break. They shipped the kids off to the grandparents for the summer, stopped eating out -- not even stopping at McDonalds, stopped going to movies and stuck every penny they could find into their "house fund". No summer vacation -- not even a short trip to the beach. Every time they felt compelled to splurge, they went out to look at houses and neighborhoods instead (and probably took a quick peek at their growing nest egg!).

By the end of the summer, they were amazed at how much they had saved. They were even more amazed at how much they normally spent on non-essentials. They said they didn't even miss most of it.

Their single-minded devotion to meeting their goal has always stuck with me. I guess it all depends on how badly you want something and how much you're willing to sacrifice to meet the goal.

Owning a home seems like a worthwhile goal to me!

(C) Susan Pruden.