I borrowed this one from 1001 Rules for My Unborn Son but it is very true, in fact never buy anything at night (be it a car, a house or even a cow).
I believe there is a deep philosophical statement in a Country and Western Song “Don’t the girls Get Prettier at closing time?”, (by Mickey Gilley) the same can be said for large purchase items (I am going to get in so much trouble for that one line, I am sure).
Any decision that you make after 6:00 PM, deserves to have your undivided attention, a good night sleep after that, and then a good rethink in the cold light of dawn. I am always astounded about how many “great ideas” I have had the previous evening that ended up looking pretty darn “flawed” in the morning.
Real Estate agents know that if they apply pressure later in the evening they can get folks to spend too much for a house, or buy a house they don’t really want. Car sales folk want you to walk into the show room in the evening, and they want to close the deal before you get a chance to think about things.
Any regrettable late night choices out there folks? Aside from decisions made in pubs?
this was a few decades ago, but…like Groucho Marx said…learn from others mistakes, you can’t make all of them yourself! My friends parents bought their first home, at night…and when they finally saw it all in the light…the drain from the kitchen was a garden hose out to the backyard! Eek!
Never buy anything at night. Never paint a room at night. In fact, best to just sleep at night – you don’t need to see too well to do that.
Late one night I had a bit of money in my TFSA trading account and I got the genius idea to buy shares in Shopper’s Drug Mart. They have dropped continually since then and have only paid about a $2.50 dividend (that is in total and not per share).
That action led to my new stock buying rule. I must wait 12 hours before making any purchases.
Excellent rule!
Although I never did buy a car at night, I definitely would never buy a home at night. In fact, I want to see a home a few times before I buy it. I drive by at night to see what occurs in the neighborhood as well.
You don’t want to live next to a grow-op or a wife swapping enclave? Picky, picky! 🙂
OMG, this is so true. Years ago I bought a minivan from a professional clown (we still call it the crusty the clown-mobile) when it was dark. Brought it home two days later, and it was an entire disaster. Inside and out it looked horrible, mechanically not very good. We turned around and sold it immediately (to someone that looked at it during the day). It seems intuitive to buy a car during the day, but I got caught :).