Buying a Home in Uncertainty: A Financial Planner’s Perspective

It was the right house and the right time for us.

The years of looking at houses meant that we knew a lot about what we wanted – and what we didn’t. The years of saving and paying attention to our finances meant that we knew what we were comfortable paying. The conversations with our realtor and family/friends/coworkers who are homeowners meant that we were as aware as we knew to be of potential blind spots.

So, when our now-home was listed, we went to the first day of showings and made an offer that morning. We knew what we wanted to do when there were multiple offers and we had to submit our last and best offer under pressure. From an outsider’s perspective, this move seemed spontaneous, happening in the blink of an eye. But it really happened as so many things do: slowly… then all at once.

As a financial advisor, this process of planning and then taking action was not new to me. But the emotion around my money was. All of a sudden, the comfort of our cash savings above and beyond our emergency fund was gone. Not only that, but I signed document after document pertaining to this new debt we were taking on. We were prepared, but that didn’t prevent me from wondering:

Should we wait a little longer hoping for a correction in pricing? Should we wait for lower rates? Are we buying at the peak? Should we float the rate we were quoted, and could afford, in hopes of a lower and more digestible rate by the time we close? Are we making a mistake?

Despite all this uncertainty, we had to make a decision with the information we had. And the information we had was this: we were prepared to buy this house. And this house felt like home.

I have a new level of respect for each of you. We are all making decisions with our money in the face of uncertainty. We all want to time our decisions in the best way possible. And we all have to make these decisions with only the information we have – which excludes the lens of hindsight that we later judge our decisions through.

I do not take it lightly that our clients trust us to guide them through decisions like this. I cannot imagine having bought this house without the trusted individuals my husband and I sought advice from. And helping clients make decisions in the midst of uncertainty, with as much confidence as possible, is why I do what I do. These decisions matter. The planning matters. Because so much of life happens slowly… then all at once.

Hannah Whatley, CFP®, AIF® is an Advisor at Rather & Kittrell.