Grant_wakelin by Grant Wakelin 28 th January, 2012

OMG I've Sold My House --or-- OMG I've Bought A House

I was working with a young family recently helping them close the purchase of their first home. An exciting time for them and for the seller of the home. Of course, because it was their first ever house purchase there had to be some challenges, but we all managed to survive the leaking shower, cell phones dying, people getting lost driving from one location to another, while literally watching the minute hand on the clock tick over to see if a prior deal was going to fall over. We got there - a happy seller and a happy buyer.
After talking with both parties that night - the owner heading out for dinner and the purchaser de-stressing with a well deserved beer - I sat down with a rather nice Pinot to reflect on it all. One of the best times in real estate is helping someone achieve their dream of home ownership. While sitting there self-actualising I got to considering ‘what next’ for our buyer and seller. Thinking they should all be feeling great now - then the realisation...

Oh yeah, post-purchase dissonance. That internal mental debate and conflict, that uncomfortable feeling of uncertainty after making an important decision - did I do the right thing? Buyer's remorse. And what increases it?
  • The importance of the decision
  • The difficulty of the decision
  • The irreversibility of the decision
Pretty much describes selling and buying a house right there! Did I make the right decision? The brother-in-law reckons you got scammed, the neighbour is upset you sold too cheap, but the guys in the pub think you’re a property mogul with money to burn (or at least enough to buy the next round anyway). We end up running round looking for information to ‘prove’ we made the right decision. Maybe our buyer and seller aren't feeling quite so rosy right now, particularly a 'first-timer'.

How do we make it easier on ourselves and reduce that stress?

Four things to do:
  1. The key to happiness in real estate buying and selling - preparation. The better prepared and knowledgeable you are the more confidence you will have in your decisions.
  2. Get advice from independent experts during the process (that’s not the guy next door or your brother-in-law - even if he is a valuer!) as input, but make decisions yourself.
  3. Once the deed is done remember that uncertainty and discord comes from believing other people's opinions. Focus on being comfortable with your own opinions and decisions - what is right for you, is right for you, not anyone else.
  4. Most of all - just believe in yourself, you did the leg-work, you took the advice and made the best decision for you.
Move on and enjoy - you have sold or bought your home!

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