Before the recession hit the nation, home buying trends were toward buying the biggest and most expensive home you can buy with the goal of short term appreciation leading to a huge windfall on the re-sale of your home. Well, we all know what happened to that trend. Nevertheless Antares Homes was pretty quick to begin downsizing our plans to meet the market where it currently is. People are still buying larger homes, but instead of just a few people living in them, multigenerational families are living together. Another trend we are seeing is our customers buying a lot less home than they are qualified for. I hear my customers tell me over and over again that they want to live life and not be strapped and chained by their home. Now, I’ll tell you, lending is tight. No bank is going to lend more money than they think they will be able to re-coup and so when someone is qualified for our largest floor plan in a neighborhood and they want to buy one of the smaller ones, I have to ask: Why? I mean, there is a difference between living in the smallest floor plan and living in the largest floor plan. When you can buy a $160,000 home and you are telling me you want a $115,000 home, I do worry that I’ll have an unhappy homeowner on my hands at some point. Surprisingly, that has not been the case. What our homeowners are looking for is a little freedom and a lot of peace of mind. They seem to be content to live in a little smaller home, enjoy the benefits of our energy efficiency and bank on a steady appreciation rate. They are spending their money on vacations, hobbies and improving their properties. They are prepared in case a spouse loses a job or a child gets sick or a family member needs their help. These are all very current concerns for everyone today and the person who decides to have a smaller mortgage has choices in life that others don’t. I’ll be interviewing a lovely couple named April and Terrence and we’ll get a closer look at living below your means.