The Naked Truth About Home Buying

It’s highly likely I’ve already written about this, but I’ll try to make it entertaining at least.  There’s a guy who works in our office who suffers from kidney stones – and from what he’s described, “suffers” might even be a little too tame a word for it.  As an aside, though, when you ask him how painful the experience is, he gets an odd smile and says, “It’s the most intense pain I’ve ever experienced, but it’s hard to describe.  I’ve heard a lot of people compare it to the pain a woman experiences while giving birth.  To that, I must say, those people are big, fat liars!  I’ve been in the presence of a woman giving birth, twice, and her pain has to be 100 times worse.  They’re passing the equivalent of a Buick.  I’m passing a pumpkin seed.”  He’s always been a colorful fellow.

He’s had this wonderful condition for over a decade now, and the stones make their appearance about every 18 months or so.  Up until recently, he had chosen to accept his fate and have the buggers make their appearance that sideline him for about two days, three at the most.  Well, according to him, his most recent bout was so painful, and the entire “incident” lasted off and on for about ten days, he got with his doctor and had the stones analyzed.  I won’t bore you (or gross you out) with what the analysis indicated, but it gave him and his doctor a basis for a solid treatment plan.  Oddly enough, he didn’t have to change his lifestyle and/or diet significantly, but he has to take a pill twice a day that’s larger than any stone he’s ever passed and big enough to choke a medium- or large-sized farm animal, if one is so inclined. 

While you may be sitting there and thinking to yourself, “Wow, I’m glad I don’t have kidney stones,” I’ll say this: every one of us has something in our lives that’s a kidney stone – something that is small and doesn’t happen on a daily basis, but when it comes, it knocks us off our game or diverts us from our goal; and most of the time, we do nothing to change it because we right ourselves and accept the delay.  But as time goes on, hopefully, the “stone” gets big enough and causes enough of a hindrance and/or obstacle that we’re compelled to take action and not just remove it from our lives but take steps to prevent it from happening again. 

In the case of a potential homeowner, these “stones” take many forms – and I’m not talking about foreclosure, bankruptcy, etc. (those are major incidents that require a lot more time and attention).  I’m referring to things like multiple trips to Starbucks in a week that add up, financing a car over a longer period of time to get “the right payment”, paying for a big summer trip with your credit card because you’re “pretty sure” you’ll get a nice bonus to cover it at year’s end, and so on.  Before you even start LOOKING at homes, get with a mortgage company to give your financial health a thorough exam – unlike a doctor’s visit that costs a bit of cash depending on what type of medical insurance you have, such an “exam” with a mortgage company is free.  They’ll be able to tell you what needs to be cut out, changed, and/or added to your spending habits to remove the “stone” before it has a chance to divert you from your goal – a delay in that process is unacceptable.  If a mortgage company asks you to disrobe for the exam, you’ll know you picked the wrong one.