Decision-Making Process

When buying my first home I found that it took a lot more planning then I thought. I found there were steps that had to be followed and choices to be thought about. As a first time buyer I was lost as I went through the process I learned a great deal about making decisions.

When my partner and I first went to a realtor to look at homes, they asked if we were really ready to buy. That is something we never really asked ourselves. This fits with the first step in our text, identify and diagnose the problem. We went home and thought about this for a month.

The stages in just answering if we were ready really fit the decision-making process our text shows. At that time I had searched online and found the same information and decision-making process.

Our first stage was why do we want to move (identify and diagnose the problem).

The problem are family was growing and we needed space. The part of town we lived in was turning for the worse. Are school was one that was to be shut down to save money.

The second stage was to see what else could be done instead of buying (generating alternative solutions). We looked into other rentals around town, looked at staying where we were and if we could make it work. Even looked at moving into with family. After looking at the alternative we took time to see if they fit us. Question we asked what we get out of using an alternative in stead of buying. He looked at freedom to move when and if needed, saving of money, security and safety of our family, and the over all well being of our families life.

After looking at the alternatives and looking at we needed and if the alternatives fit our needs, we then had to make the choice. We choose to buy a home because the alternatives did not meet our needs. The next step we took was to go back to the realtors and start looking for a home.

We used the steps in the text when deciding to buy our home, the only difference is I should have used the same steps when choosing our realtor. We are in the evaluating the decision stage now. We have had our home for one year and so far it is all positive.

I would not change the process at all because of our text because it really follows what we did. I would change the fact that we didn't use the steps in every choice along the way from realtors to financing options.