Or is this a spontaneous and romantic gesture? The Wall Street Journal recently profiled several men (yes, they were all men) who pulled off this huge surprise for their wives…to mixed reviews. As one real estate agent said, “A necklace is a lot easier.” So we’re wondering, is this ridiculous or romantic? She wound up in tears and not in the good way. But, just as marriage is a partnership, shouldn’t picking out the place where you’ll live also be a team effort? It needed major work but now, 11 years later, she loves it, saying, «He was right, as much as I hate to admit it.»
In the case of Greg and Betty Ryberg, he bid on (and won) a South Carolina carriage house spur-of-the-moment at an auction (while she was out of town). Cliff Zelenko pulled the trigger on a New York City apartment (a fixer-upper) and casually stopped by with his wife Faith to drop the bomb. He won her over with a romantic dinner in the new home and, after plenty of renovations, she loves it now. Needless to say, Betty, who already loved their fairly recently-purchased current home, was a bit miffed, but again, this one also has a happy ending. And these are just a few of the many examples of this kind of thing — seems like it’s more common than we thought. Add the cost of a house into the mix and you have one dangerous gamble.
