Take Your Kids To Open Houses

Like most parents, we often ponder our kids' financial education.

Our twins, Tristan and Autumn, are 14, so it's crucial that they grasp the early stages of managing money. For Christmas, Tristan is diving into entrepreneurship and has his eyes on some tech equipment for his startup, along with setting up his own business bank account.

Meanwhile, Autumn is diligently earning, saving, and working towards getting her lifeguard certification.

Ensuring our kids feel comfortable and at ease with money is a top priority for us.

Therefore, we've decided to introduce them to an experience they may not initially appreciate. Occasionally and without warning, we'll be taking them to open houses.

This idea struck us during our own open house last weekend. We had a packed Open House of 17 couples even the week before Christmas! What caught our attention was that half or more had their children in tow. Some were as young as three to five, while one particular couple stood out—they brought their 7th and 11th-grade children.

It got us thinking about how exposure to the home-buying process at an early age could provide a valuable foundation for them.

The concept of homeownership, essentially an advantage, often stems from a sense of comfort and familiarity in certain surroundings.

Consider the success of "Take Our Daughters to Work Day," rebranded in 2003 as "Take Your Child to Work Day." The idea is to make children comfortable in environments that will matter to them in the future.

Developing comfort around real estate is an essential aspect of financial education—perhaps even more crucial than piggy banks and allowances. A significant portion of your child's wealth may revolve around the buying and selling of the two to three homes that will constitute their primary residences.

Feel free to bring your kids to our open houses—we almost always have cookies and drinks.