Don't Exchange What You Want Most For What You Want At the Moment

I like that saying:  "Don't exchange what you want most for what you want at the moment."  It applies to a lot of things.  What comes to mind for me is staying on track with health and fitness, and not giving in to eating something junkie, just because it's convenient.  

It also applies to buying or renting a home.  

You can have a list of must haves for a house, and look at one that doesn't have everything you want, but you figured you look at is because it is in the school district you want, or close to work.  It has a beautiful fireplace, you didn't even realize you wanted a fire place.  It's a cold day and you can imagine how cozy it would be on a cold day, and on Christmas it would be so pretty.  You start to think you could live there. It's smaller than you want, it doesn't have the floor plan you prefer.  It has a pool, you really didn't want to deal with maintaining a pool, maybe you could hire someone? The fireplace is spectacular though, and the mantle is amazing, you picture the way you would decorate it, yeah you like this house.  Hmm the kitchen is tiny, you wanted an eat in kitchen.  We could eat in the dining room.. 

Not a good idea, especially if you are buying, you would tire of the fireplace pretty quick, when you have to settle for things you really didn't want. Even for a rental, you'd be stuck with it for at least a year.  

It's easy to get carried away like this though.  If you are on the market to buy or rent, keep in mind why you have your list in the first place. The things on it are important to you. If you are working with a buyer or a tenant, try to gently bring them back in, when they start down that path.  

Remember, don't exchange what you want most for what you want at the moment, it will come back and bite you in the end.