Say NO to Buyers Remorse

Buyer’s remorse is not something that anyone wants to deal with. I have personally second guessed even the smallest of purchase. However, this is most true in the case of buying a home, when feeling remorse over the purchase can be even more intense due to the nature of the cost of a home. After buying a home, buyer’s remorse can make a buyer who once felt confident about his purchase start to doubt that it was the right decision.

Because many real estate markets today are buyer’s market, there is often a lot of time to negotiate on price and to fully think the purchase through before anything is finalized. This reduces the chances of buyer’s remorse. However, it is still quite common, especially among first-time home buyers. Buyer’s remorse can also have the opposite effect, especially when it is a buyer’s market. This type of market can lead people to wait too long to make an offer on a home that they are very interested in and this lead to non-buyer’s remorse. Luckily, there are some things that can be done to help prevent buyer’s remorse and to get rid of it if thoughts of doubt have already started to set into the buyer’s mind.

The first thing that any buyer should do is to make sure they know what they are looking for. This means taking all things into consideration such as the home itself, the distance from work or school, and the neighborhood. When looking at an investment property make sure you keep in account the distance to the attractions and the community amenities. Looking at many different homes in many different areas can help pinpoint these needs and make sure that the buyer gets exactly what they want. The more a buyer looks around and looks at many different houses, the better feel they will have for what that particular market is like. It’s also important to not only focus on what the market is like at that particular time but what it will be like in the future for that area.

Another way to beat buyer’s remorse is to get pre-approved for a mortgage. This allows buyers to go into house hunting with a clear idea of what they can afford for monthly payments and will take away a lot of uncertainties that cause buyer’s remorse.

Making sure that you know the current real estate market and that you are educated on current prices and home sales in the area can also help beat buyer’s remorse, especially once everything has been finalized and all the paperwork has been done.  Ask your realtor to give you a complete list of comparable properties sold in the past 6 months. Knowing that you have done your homework and have made an educated financial decision when purchasing your home is very reassuring.  A good real estate agent can also remind the buyer what attracted them to the home in the first place and can help reinforce the fact that the home was purchased for a very good price.

Once in your new home personalizing the space can also help. When one truly makes a home feel like their home, there is a sense of ownership that comes along with that and that can help beat buyer’s remorse. Something as simple as changing the carpets or coloring the walls can really add personal touches to the space and make one feel as though they made the right decision in purchasing their home.

Once all of the paperwork has been finalized, there’s really not a lot that can be done to get out of the deal. Buyers need to remember this and not dwell on the fact that they think that a better deal may have come along. Remembering that this was not something they entered into lightly and that they made an educated and informed decision will help reassure them that they made the right decision.