4 ms·

The pull quote in the middle sums it up nicely. "People guess who they are and what their lives are about, and they guess wrong."

compiler-guy 8y ago
Some people guess right and never have any regrets. Some people guess right, and then life happens. And yes, some people guess wrong. But that article thinks everyone guesses wrong.
- smallnamespace 8y ago
  If people who guess wrongly bemoan it loudly, while those who guess correctly enjoy it quietly, then all we will hear is regret even if most people get it right. I think this goes doubly so online, where the loudest voices dominate.
  - mmsimanga 8y ago
    This is why I have reservations about following online trends. It is only part of the picture of what is really going on. There is a silent (silent online) number of people who are just getting on with it quietly as you put it.
    - ImaCake 8y ago
      This captures a good part of the underlying problem with social media. It is often the disenfrancised and outspoken who dominate the discussion. Many of them don't work and support other activities such as families or hobbies, so they are able to spend that time complaining on the internet.
- Retric 8y ago
  That someone enjoys their home is not enough to say they made a great choice just a good one. People grow attached to all sorts of things. My personal experience is people are most likely to enjoy a home that’s easy for them to afford as it never feels like a burden.
  - daveslash 8y ago
    "people are most likely to enjoy a home that’s easy for them to afford as it never feels like a burden" -- that is exactly my dream home.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- isoskeles 8y ago
  I think it's fair to point out since homeownership can be a very poor decision if you aren't considering these things when you go all in. People "guess wrong" about the perception vs. reality of their self all the time over plenty of things, and a lot of it results in them buying junk they rarely or never use. ("I'm totally going to learn how to shred on that ukulele.") Houses are just special given how royally screwed you are when you're trying to get some liquidity out of a several-million dollar asset you stupidly bought because you thought it matched your fantasy lifestyle and realized how wrong you were after it was too late. That said, I don't feel too sorry for these people, but I think it's definitely worth trying to teach others not to make the same mistake.
- jxfreeman 8y ago
  Yeah, I’m living in my dream house but it cost me less than $500k. When I saw the first example was a $3.5 million home I stopped reading. It’s simple to spot people overbuying (read: guessing wrong). There are lots of people living in their dream homes they’re just not living in multi-million dollar homes.
- shalmanese 8y ago
  The article is making the argument that people guess structurally wrong. In the same way that it's perfectly possible under a waterfall design system that you manage to get all of your requirements mostly right from the start, it's also perfectly possible that a family is able to anticipate their needs for a house well into the future before having built/lived in it, but it's a structurally losing game. An example of an alternative approach championed by a lot of people who want to build houses situated deeply into nature is that they'll live for the first 12 months out of a tent, shifting it to various places on their property. By doing this, they get a feel for how the sun behaves, where the wind moves, where animals like to roam etc. and make a much more informed decision of where to site the house. This is much more akin to the MVP/sprint model of building houses.
rootusrootus 8y ago
Sounds like a statement which can describe far more than a choice of house. Careers, lovers, whether to have children, etc. And even if you guessed right, things can change.

compiler-guy 8y ago

Some people guess right and never have any regrets. Some people guess right, and then life happens. And yes, some people guess wrong. But that article thinks everyone guesses wrong.

smallnamespace 8y ago
If people who guess wrongly bemoan it loudly, while those who guess correctly enjoy it quietly, then all we will hear is regret even if most people get it right. I think this goes doubly so online, where the loudest voices dominate.
- mmsimanga 8y ago
  This is why I have reservations about following online trends. It is only part of the picture of what is really going on. There is a silent (silent online) number of people who are just getting on with it quietly as you put it.
  - ImaCake 8y ago
    This captures a good part of the underlying problem with social media. It is often the disenfrancised and outspoken who dominate the discussion. Many of them don't work and support other activities such as families or hobbies, so they are able to spend that time complaining on the internet.
Retric 8y ago
That someone enjoys their home is not enough to say they made a great choice just a good one. People grow attached to all sorts of things. My personal experience is people are most likely to enjoy a home that’s easy for them to afford as it never feels like a burden.
- daveslash 8y ago
  "people are most likely to enjoy a home that’s easy for them to afford as it never feels like a burden" -- that is exactly my dream home.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
isoskeles 8y ago
I think it's fair to point out since homeownership can be a very poor decision if you aren't considering these things when you go all in. People "guess wrong" about the perception vs. reality of their self all the time over plenty of things, and a lot of it results in them buying junk they rarely or never use. ("I'm totally going to learn how to shred on that ukulele.") Houses are just special given how royally screwed you are when you're trying to get some liquidity out of a several-million dollar asset you stupidly bought because you thought it matched your fantasy lifestyle and realized how wrong you were after it was too late. That said, I don't feel too sorry for these people, but I think it's definitely worth trying to teach others not to make the same mistake.
jxfreeman 8y ago
Yeah, I’m living in my dream house but it cost me less than $500k. When I saw the first example was a $3.5 million home I stopped reading. It’s simple to spot people overbuying (read: guessing wrong). There are lots of people living in their dream homes they’re just not living in multi-million dollar homes.
shalmanese 8y ago
The article is making the argument that people guess structurally wrong. In the same way that it's perfectly possible under a waterfall design system that you manage to get all of your requirements mostly right from the start, it's also perfectly possible that a family is able to anticipate their needs for a house well into the future before having built/lived in it, but it's a structurally losing game. An example of an alternative approach championed by a lot of people who want to build houses situated deeply into nature is that they'll live for the first 12 months out of a tent, shifting it to various places on their property. By doing this, they get a feel for how the sun behaves, where the wind moves, where animals like to roam etc. and make a much more informed decision of where to site the house. This is much more akin to the MVP/sprint model of building houses.

rootusrootus 8y ago

Sounds like a statement which can describe far more than a choice of house. Careers, lovers, whether to have children, etc. And even if you guessed right, things can change.