In talking to so many buyers and sellers and even mortgage professionals about the dilemmas of getting into or out of houses in today's marketplace, it dawned on me these people have pie chart problems.
From about fourth or fifth grade on, I knew I was strong in the math department and loved turning numbers into various graphs like line, bar, and pie charts. How fun is a pie chart? It represents the whole with the different fractional slices. How better to explain the percentages of the whole.
With buyers, sellers and even as business people in real estate or jobs in general, one big pie chart for you monthly or annually, is your EXPENSES pie chart. A little money going out or a lot of money going out may not be a key to happiness but too high expenses can add to your misery. So at this new part of the year, reflecting on your expenses, can you make changes to make your life better?
HOW'S YOUR PIE CHART DOING?
Is your expense for housing greater than 25% of your net income. If housing is too high, guess what? Less vacations, less meals out at restuarants, no fitness club, no extra money for Susie's dance lessons, or little Billy's little league uniforms. What about saving for those home improvements you want? In business, what is your marketing budget? 8%, 10%, or is 14% just too darn high? That phone bill seems way too high and isn't there an alternative carrier or Voice over IP? Do we need all these cell phones in the family? Do I have to water the grass five days a week in the hot summer? My point is, many people do not go back and re-examine their expense pie chart often enough to make life better. Whether you like it or not your pie slices ARE changing. Think of the bigger slice with higher gasoline prices. But then you could drive less or get a higher MPG car. Work on your pie slices to your benefit. Also, on the income side, how big a pie (market) is there for everyone to get a bite out of? It probably has shrunk in real estate over the last year. Also, what are the sources of your income? Two spouses, some retirement funds, multiple jobs? Figure it out.
For extra credit, after you master the Expenses pie, think of your Time pie. VERY CRITICAL TO YOUR LIFE! Where do you spend your 16 to 17 waking hours of your day? DO NOT PUT IT ALL INTO WORK! Put it into what is important to you and what you value most.
Become a Pie Master and I'll send you a big Chef hat. Now get back in the kitchen and create that masterpiece that is your life and we'll all come over to dinner with you and celebrate!
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