Do You Know Your Real Interest Rate?

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1932-My grandparents bought their first home for $4700 in cash on the outskirts of Minneapolis. It was meadows and farmland at the time, and their own parents thought that they had lost their minds and moved out to the middle of nowhere. That same home sold in 2018 for $425,000 1974-My parents bought their first home for $42,500 at 9.2% interest in a small farming town on the outskirts of a booming college town in Illinois. It was a fixer-upper, my grandparents thought that they were crazy at the time, and that same home sold in 1996 for $275,000 2006-I bought my first home (a condo) in East Lakeview in Chicago for $225,000 at 7.1% interest. My parents thought that I should wait and that the interest rates would drop, but I bought it anyway. The condo needed TLC, but it was the most reasonable unit in one of the best buildings and prime locations in the area at the time. That same home sold for $365,000 in 2021 2018-2021-My partner and I bought 5 acres near Lake Michigan in small town in Michigan (conveniently located between two bustling tourist towns with higher prices). We paid $168,000 for the land on a Land Contract and later built a home during Covid for an additional $700,000. Our interest rate was 3.1%. All our friends and family thought that we were crazy for the purchase during the middle of Covid. Our home today (2023) appraised for 1.3 million Takeaways from my family's history: -We all bought regardless of the interest rate -We all bought in up and coming areas (even when family and friends thought that we were crazy) based on research and what we could afford at the time. We were in the long game... -WE ALL MADE MONEY Buy smart, do your homework, and seek the advice of a real estate professional to help identify value in the market (its always there regardless of the interest rate), look for seller financing if possible when the rates are high, invest in the best location that you can afford at the time (you cant ever move your location), improve a home that needs TLC over time as your cash flow improves. With the current interest rates, you may think that you are currently forced to buy less for more. I would argue that now is the perfect time to think smart and "Buy The Future More For Less".