We’ve all had it. As much as we love our homes, there’s always another house that's bigger or more beautiful, and which we secretly wish could be ours. This week our guest blogger, Susanna Salk, talks about how she came to terms with her real estate envy.

Real Estate Envy
From Open House by Susanna Salk

Should it be the eighth deadly sin? Lusting after someone else’s abode makes you feel strangely guilty and elated at the same time: i.e., how can we want more than what we are lucky enough to have over our heads and wouldn’t it be amazing to have a closet the size of a fire station?!

Last week my good friend and I stayed at a mutual friend’s Florida home. Our hostess lives in London and Connecticut and this is just an occasional winter pit stop for her, so she was kind enough to lend the keys to us for a few days. The place was a spacious, sunny light box and completely ideal for our young boys to run back and forth to the community pool and tennis court on scooters. We were very happy.

One night, we drove to Palm Beach to our other friend’s new ocean front mansion. To say the house was gorgeous was an understatement...

Find out how Susanna came to terms with her real estate envy.