Making Decisions
Most people are unable to make any decisions, but instead bounce through life by being submissive supplicants for figures they believe have authority, wisdom, and capability, regardless of the truth of those ascriptions. This passive approach to life ensures that they are immobilized, which has significant social benefit because it prevents the thoughtless from taking any action, thus limiting the likelihood that they will get in the way or muddy the waters for others.

The few who are able to make decisions use an entirely different approach whereby they understand all relevant aspects of a situation and then determine the best approaches, concluding in a decision for the solution that best serves their needs.

The characteristic mark of minds of the first rank is the immediacy of all their judgments. Everything they produce is the result of thinking for themselves and already in the way it is spoken everywhere announces itself as such. He who truly thinks for himself is like a monarch, in that he recognizes no one over him. His judgments, like the decisions of a monarch, arise directly from his own absolute power. He no more accepts authorities than a monarch does orders, and he acknowledges the validity of nothing he has not himself confirmed.
- Schopenhauer

What You Need to Know
Before you can choose a house, you need to determine the answers to several important questions.

• Location - In what kind of neighborhood do you want to live? A hip location in the city? A quiet suburb? Near work? Near friends? In mountain top solitude?

• Cost - How much money are you comfortable spending? The desirability of the area, size of your house, amount of land, and quality of the community are the results of this decision. There is a useful result from economic discrimination that nearly ensures nicer communities with lower crime and better schools as prices increase because the people willing to pay additional amounts will be serious about developing and maintaining those benefits.

• Type of Property - Unless you live in the middle of a crowded city, I only recommend houses because living in townhouses or condos, no matter how large, is like enduring life in a crowded jail. Having a yard to provide buffer space from your neighbors is far superior to confinement within shared walls.

Financial Details
Generous provisions in the tax code provide for approximately a one-third refund on housing costs during the early years of a loan, based on deductions allowable for interest. As payment begins to apply to increased equity, the tax deductions will decrease, but in addition to equity increasing, inflation will likely make the payments relatively lower.

Before shopping for your new house, you will want to get pre-approved for a mortgage rather the usual and meaningless pre-qualified. Being pre-approved means that you will have a letter in hand from your lender that allows you to buy a house for up to the approved amount while being pre-qualified means nothing.