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I've always been a big believer in buying a home as an investment. The reason for that is I spent my life moving from rental to rental every few years, never having spent more than a 4-year stretch in any one location. Growing up, that was pretty rough.

The trend continued for a large majority of my life, as I went into the military, then married a military spouse. We moved on average every two years. Even when I tried to buy and settle down (and I say I because the wife was 'talked into' this fiasco) we ended up only staying there a few years.

Ye Olde Homestead

Fast-forward about 4 years, renting and not really saving for a down payment. We were presented with the opportunity to buy a house (and when I say presented, I mean "forced out of our rental property due to it being sold out from under us", but I'm not bitter. Much,. Anymore.).

Still being fairly young and stupid about finances. We found ourselves looking around for that 'perfect house' with a month's worth of time to find, close, and move into the place. No small order there. The only saving factors were;

• We had recovered from our previous financial mistakes, were pretty much out of debt, and had some money saved up for expenses.
• The housing market was in a tiny slump, price-wise, so houses were still in the reasonable range.
• We still had our VA papers to get a zero-down low-interest loan for the house.

We contacted a real-estate agent and began to look around. An afternoon looking through the MLS book, and going to see about 5-7 houses (one of which wasn't even done inside yet, another that the realtor couldn't get inside), we finally picked out our home to be.

Yeah, really. 5 houses, picked one. I know. I can't really believe it looking back either. Might as well have thrown darts at the map.

Home, Home on the Range

Good thing is, it worked out. Good area, great schools, nice BIG house for the price. Someone somewhere must like us because it could have worked out MUCH worse.

Some things I would have done differently though.

• Plan out what the family needed - We didn't consider that we'd have another child in the future, but we did pick a 3 bedroom home with a basement. Over the years, I've had my 'office' moved from a nice little room with a little window, to a cold, drab basement with a LITTLE window. How'd THAT happen when I wasn't looking?!?? Next time, plan for a little contingencies. Having an extra bedroom (or two) if it fits in your budget isn't a bad thing.
• Choose the area Carefully - We chose this area because I've lived in the next town and have always heard good things about THIS town. It worked for us, but even here, there are areas of the town you wouldn't want to be caught late night in. A good deal in a bad part of town, isn't a good deal. Try to imagine what it will be like in 10-20 years too. Remember, in Back to the Future, Marty's home in the new spiffy subdivision, wasn't so spiffy after it had been around for 15 years. Tract housing is good for stepping-stone houses, but maybe not for a long-term place to live.
• Area Jobs and Commuting Distances - Again, we lucked out pretty much. I'm in a sweet-spot, being close to a major highway that leads directly downtown (so a straight-shot commute to a large percentage of jobs), and not TOO far away from other areas that have lots of work.

Even though these things did work out for us, it could have easily went the other way. Bad schools/location, long commute, too small a house. Any of these plus a thousand other little problems could have made the last ten years MUCH more miserable. Take these into account when you're looking for your new house. They might save you some headache down the road.

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