“Happiness is wanting what you have.”

Today's title is from the Jack's Wining Words bog, quite often a source of inspiration for me. I might modify it a bit for real estate to read "Happiness is wanting what you can afford." Accompanying Jack's words this morning was a pointer to the Web site for an organization called The Center for a New American Dream. The Web site is http://www.newdream.org/.

The New Dream center is another organization that espouses living a more simple live and goes on to champion dong things that will make a difference in the lives of those around you. These are certainly noble goals. I didn't take a lot of time to look at the site, but it may be worth a visit, if you've been considering a change in your lifestyle or attitude.

Returning to the real estate implications of all of this, I suppose one could make the case that many of the people who are now in trouble with their mortgages reached for more than they could afford because they weren't happy with less, to at least thought that they wouldn't be happy with less - less house, less car, less everything. I certainly know lots of people who are that way - possession-centered. Generally they seem to think that acceptance in life or the measure of life's worth is somehow associated with how many of life's trappings one is able to collect and display.

I have to admit that I went through that stage in my life, too; so I can be too sanctimonious here. As I've gotten older, I've started to appreciate other things in life - relationships being the most important. Now, I'm not ready to give it all up and go live in a cave in the forest; but, I also no longer need the newest car or the biggest house or many of the other things that I used to think would make me happy. what makes me happy now is waking up in the morning (always a great way to start the day) to a wonderful wife and realizing that I have a great family with children and grandchildren close at hand. I have a faithful dog who gives us unconditional love and I live in a great old historic home in one of the nicest places in Michigan to reside - The Village of Milford.

Tonight, I get to go on a call to try to list a local home and whether I get the listing or not, I'll get to meet some new people and likely will have a good time talking with them for an hour or so. So, I also have a wonderful job that gets me out to meet people and to try to help them buy or sell homes - both hopefully joyous occasions - and I get paid for it to boot. What more could I really want and why?