My grandmother always said that buying a house is just like buying a new hat. I never quite got what she meant there; I guess I always assumed she was being whimsical. But looking back, I can see that she was an unusually independent woman for her day, buying a house for herself using money from her job at a teaching college. It makes me wonder if the hat thing had some deeper meaning that I missed, and now it’s too late to ask.
I guess it could be saying to choose a house that suits you, or that keeps the sun off, or doesn’t give you hat hair. More to the point, don’t buy one just because it’s cool in theory; it really has to work in practice as well or it’s a waste of money (and dignity). Personally, I’ve never really felt like a hat person, so gran’s advice could just as well have meant ‘don’t buy one at all’, but I reckon it’s more likely to be the first one.
I wish she’d left me with some more solid advice, like how to find the best local conveyancer. Sandringham properties, for the most part, seem to float my boat – if they were a hat, they’d be a broad-brimmed straw hat for the beach. Sometimes trendy, sometimes not so much, but usually appropriate for the designated purpose. But I’d have known that without gran’s input. What I’m really at a loss about is how to go about actually buying one – a house, that is, not a straw hat.
It’s not a money thing, either. Thanks to gran’s savvy investing, I’ve got a tidy down payment ready to go. But yeah – when it comes to things like hiring conveyancing solicitors, I’m clueless. It never was gran’s way to give solid advice, though – a tad surprising for someone so practical in a lot of ways.