The extent to which self-delusion and trickery are entwined in everyday thought is terribly disheartening, if you want to know the truth.
In some areas that’s not terrible. The thing is, if you’re building a bridge you want that bridge to not fall down and that will or will not happen regardless of your illusions, delusions, and sense of accomplishment. However if you’re picking something to make you happy, this no longer applies. Now your perception matters.
Let’s say you are looking at a house that checks off all the checkboxes, but on a instinctual, irrational level you just hate it. Maybe there’s something about the proportions, maybe there’s some barely noticeable smell, maybe there’s nothing at all you can articulate, but your gut is very clearly telling you NO.
Do not buy this house.
The reverse (your gut is telling you YES) is iffier for reasons you’re well aware of. However my point is still valid—when doing or buying things (at least partially) for the experience they will give you, you need to accommodate your perceptions and self-delusions, if only because they play a role in keeping you happy.
Houses are no longer assessed for value based on an individual home’s actual functional specifications.
Um, not sure about that. See, you can assess anything you want but you still need a buyer. You still need someone to come and say “This is what I will part with all my savings and get into debt for”. No one obligates you to buy a house which is priced “fairly” on comparables but does not satisfy you.
Markets are generally quite good at sorting these things out and the real estate market is not sufficiently screwed up to break this, I think.
In some areas that’s not terrible. The thing is, if you’re building a bridge you want that bridge to not fall down and that will or will not happen regardless of your illusions, delusions, and sense of accomplishment. However if you’re picking something to make you happy, this no longer applies. Now your perception matters.
Let’s say you are looking at a house that checks off all the checkboxes, but on a instinctual, irrational level you just hate it. Maybe there’s something about the proportions, maybe there’s some barely noticeable smell, maybe there’s nothing at all you can articulate, but your gut is very clearly telling you NO.
Do not buy this house.
The reverse (your gut is telling you YES) is iffier for reasons you’re well aware of. However my point is still valid—when doing or buying things (at least partially) for the experience they will give you, you need to accommodate your perceptions and self-delusions, if only because they play a role in keeping you happy.
Um, not sure about that. See, you can assess anything you want but you still need a buyer. You still need someone to come and say “This is what I will part with all my savings and get into debt for”. No one obligates you to buy a house which is priced “fairly” on comparables but does not satisfy you.
Markets are generally quite good at sorting these things out and the real estate market is not sufficiently screwed up to break this, I think.