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Warren Buffett famously still lives in the same house he bought decades ago — a modest Omaha home he purchased in 1958 for $31,500.
Today, it’s worth around $1.4 million, but Buffett’s attachment to the home isn’t about its appreciation. It’s about the decision he made long before buying it — and the way he handled the first big financial choice of his marriage.
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At a time when interest rates, home prices, and the basic cost of living feel higher than ever, Buffett’s old advice about homeownership hits harder than it did in 1998, when a young shareholder stood up at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting and asked a question that had nothing to do with stocks.
“I’m still quite young, I don’t have a house yet, and I’m thinking about buying a house someday soon,” the audience member said. “In order to do that, I’m going to have to put a down payment, which means I might have to sell my shares.”
What he wanted to know was simple: When is the right time to buy a house? And how much should you risk or sacrifice to get there?
Buffett didn’t pull out a textbook answer. Instead, he shared a story from the early days of his marriage.
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He and his wife, Susie, started out with about $10,000 — not much to build an empire. So Buffett gave her a choice: spend everything on a house immediately, or delay and use the money to invest.
“There’s two choices, it’s up to you,” Buffett said he told her. “We can either buy a house, which will use up all my capital and clean me out, and it’ll be like a carpenter who’s had his tools taken away from him. Or you can let me work on this and someday, who knows, maybe I’ll even buy a little bit larger house than would otherwise be the case.”
Susie agreed to wait. They didn’t buy a home until 1956, four years into their marriage — and even then, Buffett only pulled the trigger when the down payment was around 10% of his net worth, not the entire pot.
Buffett explained why he waited: locking up all his money in a house would have killed his ability to invest. And at the time, he was aiming much bigger than homeownership — he was building the foundation of the fortune that would eventually make him one of the wealthiest people on earth.
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After sharing the story, Buffett passed the microphone to Charlie Munger, who cut to the chase:
“The time to buy a house,” Munger said, “is when you need one.”
Buffett added his own spin:
“You need one when your wife wants one.”
It was a crowd-pleasing moment — but also a reminder that the emotional side of money can’t be ignored.
Even though decades have passed, Buffett’s advice sounds tailor-made for today’s economic challenges.
Mortgage rates have shot past 6.75%, housing affordability is at a historic low, and buyers are again asking themselves if it’s worth draining their savings just to own a piece of property.
Buffett’s message remains clear:
Buying a house isn’t wrong. But doing it too soon, at the wrong cost, could derail bigger opportunities. Protect your capital. Invest when you can. And buy the house when it makes sense — not when it costs you your future.
Just like Buffett said all those years ago, sometimes the smartest move is having the patience to wait.
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This article Warren Buffett Famously Bought His House For $31,500 —But When He Got Married With $10K, He Let His Wife Choose: Buy A Home Or Keep Investing originally appeared on Benzinga.com