Buying a house today or whenever is very challenging. Not only is it very expensive and a big commitment, but there are a lot of other issues as well. I remember when I bought my house way back in the 90s, it was very difficult for me to buy. Number one, I could not afford it. I could barely come up with a down payment. Then I had to come up with the moving cost.Then I had to come up with the furniture, fixtures, and appliances to put into the house. It’s a four-bedroom house, and I was moving from a two-bedroom condo because I had two other additional kids. So I wanted a bigger house. But then there were repair costs and other unexpected costs. So let’s talk about the challenges of buying a house. And I just don’t mean financially. So back in the day when I bought my house in the nineties in Nine Hills, as I mentioned, I could barely afford to buy a house. I could barely scrape up the down payment. And guess what? I was looking for a single-family detached home. And I was moving to Anaheim Hills, which is a better neighborhood with a higher price point. So I ended up buying after looking for several months. And of course, I’m a realtor, and it took me a while to find a house. And I bought the cheapest single-family home as it was available. And when I bought the house, it was not in the best condition, but at that time, that was what I could afford. It was not the house I wanted to buy. It needed some work, and it was within my budget. So I ended up buying it. And today I’m proud that I bought it. So let’s look at some challenges that one can go through. Since the things I’ve noticed about all the homes I’ve sold and all the people I come across that buy homes, they are always nervous about buying a house. No matter if you’re rich or poor, no matter if you’re buying a $150,000 house or a $150,000 condo, there’s nothing in Orange County at that price or a mobile home at that price, or people are buying $5 million homes or all cash homes. One thing is certain: everyone is nervous and scared about buying a house, but they do so. And after they buy the house, they feel better that they bought the house. So when I bought my house, I found out the hard way that on top of the down payment, which some of it I borrowed, you need moving costs, you need money to fill up your house, and you need money to repair some things. And I knew when I bought this house in Anaheim Hills that it was somewhat of a fixer-upper. It wasn’t a fixer-upper house, but it needed some work. I had to come and paint the house. On the day that I moved in, we were met with a shock in the house. First of all, the kitchen was a mess. The previous sellers, who were going through a divorce, had a nasty divorce. So the day they left and when we moved in the next day, the kitchen was a mess. There were bottles on the floor. All the cabinets were full of oil. There were rats on the stove. When we started cleaning, we found rats in there. And my wife said she’s not going to clean it. We had to buy brand-new stuff. When we went into the backyard, the whole backyard was full of dog poop from dogs.When we went in, the deck in the master bedroom, which has a deck, we found out that there were seven live rabbits there. We didn’t know about this. We had to take care of seven live rabbits, so we had to take care of those things. And then we were going to paint the house. But we found out there were other repairs. And I’m going to go through some of the challenges that I had, which are not just financial, but also emotional and private. So let’s move on. One of the biggest things we realized the day we moved in was that at nighttime when we turned on the lights, we could see outside. And guess what? We never realized it, but after we moved in, we found out that in the front of the house there were no blinds or window covers. What do we do now? Because we were moving, we were busy. We had other things in mind. All I did temporarily was put up a bedsheet on the window and realized that I was going to have to order bedsheets, which I was going to do in a week or so. As we moved in, moving our furniture or appliances, our beds, our books, and the kids’ stuff, we started painting the house, we started doing the yard work. And of course, I was a realtor, so I had to work. My money doesn’t come easily. I’m on commission. My wife did not work at that time. She was taking care of the kids, dropping them off at school, etc. So we got busy with our lives, and we did the work as we went along. Two or three weeks passed after we moved in. We were still doing repairs, painting, and all this work. And then one day, it rained. And this was very heavy rain. This was back in the nineties. It was very heavy rain. And when we woke up the next day, when I went into the garage, we found a big puddle of water. We found out that there was a big leak from the deck into the garage. Guess what? We had to fix it right away because the forecast was saying that there were going to be two or three days in a row. We call them roofers. They were all busy. It took us two days to get a roofer to come out. We paid if I remember right at that time, $3,000 to fix that roof. Guess what? A week later, it rained again. And guess what? It leaked again from a different spot. So here I am, moving to my new house with all the moving costs, all the furniture costs, and all the down payment. I was pretty much depleted of money. I did save some money for repair costs and remodeling, etc. but at this time I was pretty much out. I already paid $3,000 the first time. I paid an additional $4,000 and had to borrow it in the meantime, and I’m not complaining; things were fixed. We moved along two or three months ago. I was taking a walk in the morning on a weekend, and I was settling down. I was taking a walk in the neighborhood, as I usually do, and there was a lady standing outside, and I said, “Hello, how are you?” We started chatting, and it so happened that her son was going to the same school as my son. I didn’t know this, but the two kids had met in school. So the lady goes, “Oh, yeah, I know about your son because my son talked about it.” And you are the people that moved in on Still Water Lane. Then I got the shock of my life when she said, “You are the owner of the house on the cul-de-sac that has bedsheets on the window, isn’t that?” And I just felt shocked. Here I am, a new homeowner in Anne Hills, but I’m also a realtor. And she continues, “You’re the homeowner with bed sheets in your house.” I felt so embarrassed. The next day, I went to the mini blinds place, ordered the blinds, and had them installed in two days. I paid extra to rush the order and pay for the blind so that I wouldn’t look embarrassed. So the point of this video and this story is that not only is home buying very challenging and expensive, but a lot of things come with it. You want to feel the pride of ownership. You want to buy a house and feel good in the neighborhood. You may not feel that way after you move in. You may find that your neighbor is not what you really want him to be. Maybe they have dogs that bark all day. Maybe the commute from your house to work is much longer than you thought because there’s extra traffic, because it’s cool, on the way, and the stop sign jams up. So you may find out that the association fee does not cover certain things that you thought it would cover. So buying a house is not only challenging financially, but you will find other challenges as well, which is normal. It’s like I’ve been married for a long time and I’m happily married. Just because you marry the dream spouse, dream wife, or dream husband doesn’t mean it’s going to be perfect. There are going to be challenges after you have kids. If you have kids, it’s not always roses. It’s challenging. You have to keep changing those diapers and keep feeding them, spending time with them, and taking care of them. You have 24 hours. Eyes on your little babies. So it is with the house. It is challenging, but it is something that you need to do. It’s part of buying a house other than a financial commitment. You have the commitment of keeping your house intact, repairing it, and whatever the neighborhood or city offers you, you have to commit to it, accept it, and move on. So if you are dreaming of buying a house, don’t be let down. Make that commitment, save it up, and be ready for challenges. Because homeownership is good. And when you retire, you won’t have any more payments. And one of the richest ways is through buying real estate. And you can start by buying a house. Hopefully, you can buy rental properties.