When I leave the office or finish a meeting with a client and head home for the evening, I generally call my wife and ask if she needs me to pick up anything on my way home. Almost 100% of the time, she tells me a few items that we may need that evening; lunch meat for bag lunches, milk, paper towels, batteries, dry cleaning, and so on and so on. Recently, however, I ran a test. I did not call for a whole week on my way home, and we were never without any item that could not be picked up or purchased the following day, if at all. Similarly, I recently spoke with a client who had just purchased a home very close to a Wal-Mart and a Target. Their previous home was in a rural area with few stores close by. They acknowledged that living so close to grocery stores and shopping centers had increased their propensity to eat out and spend money. Most of the buyers I work with tell me that they want to be close to stores where they frequently shop. However, I should start asking them to consider whether or not their household budget feels the same way!
3 Jan
