A Suze Orman exclusive

Sit Down For This Last Piece of Advice

Okay, so let's say you make it through all my tests and steps, and you feel you are ready to buy a home. Good for you. But there's one more hurdle we need to factor in. Furniture.

Trust me, you are going to want new furniture, and we know how expensive that can be.

If you think the furniture you have in your rental is going to make you happy in your own home, you are doing some interesting drugs. I can guarantee you that all the old hand-me-down furniture that worked great in your rental isn't going to psychologically cut it in your new digs. Sure for awhile it may suffice, but over time all those well-placed ads will get the better of you, and you're going to want to go on a furniture-buying binge. And I bet you'll be tempted by those "interest-free for one year" furniture ads. This is as dangerous as a zero down mortgage. You charge and charge until your home is full of new furniture to impress your friends. And in the process you pile up a ton of credit card or consumer loan debt. Congratulations, you have just put yourself in a serious "small" debt bind at the same time you have committed to the biggest financial responsibility of your life: the mortgage. No wonder we have a record level of foreclosures.

And it gets even worse. I bet you're gonna insist on a new car for your new driveway. You have to impress the new neighbors, right? What you don't realize is that those new neighbors are probably up to their necks in debt, to impress the people who used to live in the house you bought. (Okay…our need to spend to impress is for another column.)

So let's imagine what sort of damage all this spending is going to do to your cash flow. And don't get me started on all the other hidden costs, such as your need to get the latest and greatest barbeque, snow blower, or lawn mower. Let alone new silverware, new linens, etc. to put on your new table. And the new-house beat goes on and on and on 'til your financial heart can't take much more. Now don't get annoyed at me because I sound negative. That's not what I'm aiming for at all. I want you to own a house, but I want you to make the move only after you fully understand the true costs of what it takes to become a homeowner versus staying a renter.

So before you go out and buy a household worth of furniture you may not be able to afford, here is my advice: just date your house for awhile before you get married to it. This means that while you are getting to know your new home, just live in it with what you currently have. See what rooms you like the best. Observe where the sun hits. Think through what kind of furniture you would like and then just do it one room at a time, so you can pay the bill without running up a balance on your credit card. Trust me, it's better to not have a new designer chair to sit in, than no money to live on.

That said, if you have a ton of furniture in your rental that you know you don't want in your new home, don't bother with the expense of moving it. It's okay to live in a sparse home for a few months. And it's smarter to sell or donate the furniture (for a tax break) than to pay for it to be moved to the new home, where eventually you'll have to pay for it to be removed a second time.