Megan Johnson: Once in a Life Time Deals are Almost Always Costly

If you don’t buy it now, the price will go up.

Sales people love limited time offers, because there aren’t many ways to get a customer to make a purchase faster than telling them that the price will be higher if they buy later. But for a customer, is it worth it to say yes?

How This Relates to Huge Purchases

With baby Sara coming and constant talk about family visits, the idea of a bigger place has moved back front and center in the Ning household. I’ve been delaying my family’s desire to buy a house for two years now. It was fortunate that home prices nationwide have dramatically come down, but that’s hardly why it was a good decision.

Even if home prices went up, it’s more costly for us to own a home.

That’s because every day we are in the bigger house, we are paying more property taxes, more utilities, and more repairs. The more we pay, the less we keep. We have been paying less than two thousand dollars per month on our apartment, but it’s not unusual to hear our friends complaining about their five to six thousand dollars home expenses every month.

Never mind the missing interest with your down payment. Everyone I know who owns a house is paying more than the ones who rent, even when tax savings and the hidden equity in mortgage payments are factored in.

If a sales person tells you that the prices will go up, it still might be better to wait and pay a higher price later.

What about Smaller Buys?

Here’s another reason why you should take a long time to research your car purchase. The longer you take, the longer you are keeping your current car and the more cost effective it becomes.

Sure, you may lose out on a great year end deal now, but waiting three more months on a car purchase without fail will likely reduce your car purchases in your lifetime once or even twice. Isn’t that a better deal?

When someone gives you an offer you can’t seem to refuse on the spot, say no and wait anyway.

Wait… Because There Certainly is More…

Everything works pretty much the same way. New clothes, shoes, iPods, laptops, TVs, cars, house, and more. The size of the purchase doesn’t matter. The longer you can wait, the less you will end up spending.

Buy now or be forever priced out. Well, that might be the best thing that’s going to happen to you.

What do you think? How often do you say yes because someone tells you the price will be higher later?

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