"Decisions" you might make when Buying a House
By Warren McNeil
Buying a house is a large decision that includes many little decisions. Most people make this large decision once in their life while others make this decision several times throughout their lives. I have made the decision a few times now and I still find it tough. Here is a list of all the decisions one could make when deciding to buy a home.
deciding if you want to buy a home
deciding on a Realtor
deciding on a location
deciding on home type or style
deciding on age of home
deciding if you want a pool-sized lot or a house that already has a pool
deciding if you want to build
deciding if you want to buy a resale home
deciding if you want to be close to schools (catholic, public, high schools, French immersion)
deciding on closeness to amenities
deciding if you want to back on to green space
deciding what you should offer when you find a house you like
deciding on what conditions you should put in the offer
deciding if you should accept, counter or reject an offer
deciding what home inspector to use
deciding where you should go to obtain financing
deciding what insurance company you should use
deciding what colour to paint the baby's room
deciding whether you should finish the basement now or when you sell
This list can go on and on. There are lots of decisions and that's why I decided to write this post. 
Life is full of decision. Indecision creates stress; stress creates headaches and headaches require Tylenol. Don't be afraid to ask for help. People make the decision to smoke, eat, stand, sit, speak etc etc. We all make our decisions analytically or through emotion. (There are others like flipping coins, psychics, astrology, a little bird told me) I tend to use a bit of both. Obviously we don't want to pay too much for the house so we need to see the facts. we use our gut or intuition as well. Sometimes we can over analyze things and then if we waste too much time, opportunity might pass us by. We all make mistakes as well. While I was in Vancouver, I made the mistake of asking a cab driver how much it would cost to get from point A to point B. He told me 12 dollars I said OK. Half way to my destination the cab driver shut off the meter. This struck me as odd but I didn't say anything. Once I got my destination I gave the cab driver 15 dollars. There was a 3 dollar tip added on. I took a cab from point A to point B two mores times within my visit and the trip only cost 9 dollars. Therefore the original cab driver ripped me off 3 dollars. Not a big deal to me. He obviously needed the money if he had to resort to that measure. My point is, I made the decision to ask the cab driver how much the trip would cost instead of just letting the meter calculate for me. I guess this is a bit of a stretch to get to my point. But nonetheless, I made it!
Example of an emotional decision to buy a house:
Somebody walks into a house and decides to buy it because they liked the way they felt when they saw their child playing on a swing in the backyard or they liked the quiet cul de sac because it made them feel safe.
Example of an analytical decision to buy a house:
1. Define problem or purpose of decision: Need to buy a house because tired of paying rent
2. Identify criteria, goals and objective: Want to stop paying a landlord and start building equity
3. Weigh criteria: How much money will it cost to buy vs rent. How much down payment. What is my TDS/GDS. Can I afford it? What will my short-term and long-term return on investment be. Should I just invest in the stock market instead.
4. Generate alternatives: Homeless, rent, live with parents
5. Computing optimal decision: This could be any of homeless, rent, live with parents or buy. It will depend how you were able to calculate the decision. Parents don't want you to live at home anymore, you have no money to buy or rent, you can't get a mortgage because of bad credit. You have been saving money for 25 years and you can afford to buy a house outright. Best decision because you can probably negotiate a better price with a firm cash offer. Possibilities are endless.
Analytical decisions can be overwhelming. You can be analytical about more then just the initial decision to buy. You can perform the above five steps on literally every single step of the way. Lets face it though. There are not many people who analyze everything they do like a mathematician. Most of us use a stripped down version of analytical combined with emotion when making decisions. I can't speak for everybody but many of the people I have worked with operate that way. I read in a cartoon once, "I've done the numbers and I will marry you.". Sometimes you can be too analytical! I had a gut-feeling about Melanie and it was a good decision 
I definitely don't have all the answers but I can help with quite a few of the above decisions. Whatever your reasoning is, buying a house is a good idea. No If, Ands, or Buts! I am saying this as a Realtor and a homeowner. I find comfort in being able to drive by my investments. Trust me when I say is they are not making any more land.
If it's been a decision of yours for awhile to buy a house, I would encourage you to go for it!
Thanks for reading!