Today after work I had a meeting scheduled with a second Realtor to see if they would be a good fit for me. After meeting with a Realtor on Wednesday I had an idea of what to expect. I was still pretty anxious, but not nearly as much as before I met with the first person. In the interest of transparency, I have interacted with the Realtor I met with today in the past, though we haven’t really talked much about houses. I was given some general real estate advice, but we definitely didn’t have any professional interaction.

Today’s meeting went well, and while I was also comfortable with today’s Realtor I could immediately sense a difference between the person I met with today and the person I met with on Wednesday. I can’t say that one was “better” than the other, but there was a distinct difference in style and today’s conversation focused more on numbers and about what opportunities I had. I was also shown that I may be able to afford more house than I initially thought. At first I wasn’t sure how to take this. My initial reaction was to feel like I was being pushed into spending more than I wanted, but after looking at the data, maybe I was just being too conservative, or maybe the online calculators I had been using were erring on the conservative side. I guess the lender will be the ultimate decider when they run my credit and determine what I’ll be pre-approved for.

Hearing that I could potentially be pre-approved for a lot more than I intended to borrow I guess isn’t entirely a bad thing, but I will need to keep my search lower than the potential amount that we discussed because while I may be able to afford a higher mortgage amount, I do also need to be able to pay for utilities and that pesky thing called food. As much as the Realtor I met with today believes in leveraging, they also understand that I am more conservative with money and I don’t think that they would try to push me out of my comfort zone, but I do appreciate them showing me how I probably can afford a “better” house. In hindsight, it was a good thing that I was challenged, because as I’ve said before I don’t know what I don’t know yet, and if I really can afford “more” house, why should I limit myself?

Now that I’ve had time to digest today’s visit and the one on Wednesday I have a better sense for what kind of person I want to work with. I have one more meeting with a third Realtor scheduled for tomorrow morning. Hopefully after that meeting the person I’ll want to work with will be clear, but I’ll admit, right now it’s going to be tough to make a choice.