Good Quotes: Yo Chicago on Buying Property

"First, be in love with it," was Tim's starting point. At the time, the advice struck me as unusual. Driving back to Chicago, however, I remembered that was the advice that savvy counselors used to give years ago, before the obsession with appreciation and investment value took hold.

Being in love with your purchase is a proxy for any number of better-articulated investment rationales. What it boils down to is this: if you're in love with the property, others will be too when it comes time to sell, and a positive outcome is far more likely than not. - Joe Zekas and Tim Anderson on Yo Chicago

Image: Magic Bean at Compact Impact

(Re-edited from a post originally published 04.23.07)

Comments (4)

Ah, but what if you've got eclectic tastes? Or more pressing needs than love?

Purchase one: we bought for love. Gorgeous, vintage-but-rehabbed, spacious 1 bedroom in Kenwood. We loved it, but buyers didn't -- it took over a year to sell (at a time when the market down there was getting hot!) and we ended up selling to someone who was just going to use it as an investment property -- no love there.

Purchase two: we bought with our heads. We needed 2 full bathrooms (his mother moved in with us), we wanted a duplex (one floor for us, one floor for her), and at a low price. When we found something that met our needs exactly, we pounced. Two years later, I still hate the place (way too modern for my tastes -- I miss our vintage condo!), but it's given us the room we need to co-exist peacefullly...

posted by vykim on August 27th 2007 at 9:38am
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How about love it, but be practical?

Vykim, I'm guessing the trouble in selling your place was more due to the only one bedroom factor rather than the vintage factor . . .

posted by MCNicole on August 27th 2007 at 11:12am
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We bought out vintage condo last summer because we absolutely fell in LOVE with it! Hands down, the best we saw... the newer rehabs did not even compare. Hopefully when we sell down the road someone else will fall in love with it too. We would want the next owner to love it and be as happy there as we are:)

posted by Tiffany on August 28th 2007 at 7:29am
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Yeah the rule is buy with your head if you plan to stay less than 7 - 10 years (about the amount of time to break even on a 30 year mortgage...if you are lucky) and with your heart if you plan to stay much longer.

Basically, as long as the whole neighborhood is OK and you plan to stay 15 years or longer, you'll probably make out great. Any less and you better know your realty markets.

posted by Jason on August 28th 2007 at 6:04pm
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