Avoiding Seller's Remorse
Buyers who have bought a property often suffer buyer’s remorse. Buyer’s remorse stems from a sense of guilt or regret from the buyer that they bought the wrong home or overpaid.
A lot of people are aware of buyer’s remorse but few give consideration to seller’s remorse. Seller’s remorse is just as prevalent as buyer’s remorse. Given you only sell a property once, it is understandable if there is enormous angst during the sales process.
Seller’s remorse is also manifested through a sense of regret, once a transaction has been made. The sellers may regret the sale because they feel they undersold or made the wrong decision in the heat of the moment.
Sellers who sell before buying in the name of safety can get caught out in a strong market. It is a horrible feeling to sell into a rising market only to see prices on your proposed purchase rising whilst you are ‘out of the market’. This is why many people, wisely or not, choose to buy before selling, in a strong market.
Another cause of seller’s remorse is vendors that are not following the market closely. They sell for what seems a high price. Only when they enter the market as a buyer do they realise they sold for a high price but not the highest possible price.
There are and have been many times the market is performing quite strongly. Yes, at the same time, many commentators were talking house prices down. If a seller took their lead from the mainstream commentary rather than the market conditions at the coalface, they could easily have undersold and deeply regretted doing so.
The greatest prevention of seller’s remorse is planning and research before transacting. If you research the target market that you intend to buy and/or sell in, you will have an increased understanding of prices.
If you do purchase prior to selling, it is crucial that you get a delayed settlement on the purchase. This allows enough time to run a full and patient campaign to achieve full market value for your existing home.
“If you do purchase prior to selling, it is crucial that you get a delayed settlement on the purchase.”
If you are pressured or committed to sell a property in a short timeframe, you may find yourself being crunched by circumstances (or your real estate agent). Anyone that is crunched in a real estate transaction usually ends up being afflicted with remorse.
High pressure sales tactics lead to remorse for the client after the transaction. As a client of the agent, you need to decide whether you are being given decisive market intelligence or the agent is employing a high pressure sales tactic.
Be wary of sales people that don’t allow you time to think. Every sales training book ever written has a section on how to overcome ‘we want to think about it’. As a lawyer once mused, ‘real estate agents move quickly and lawyers move slowly, they do so for the same reason. They both know that people change their mind’.
This article is an extract from the best selling book Inside Real Estate.
Call our office on (07) 136 777 for a complimentary copy.
BY PETER O’MALLEY Author – Inside Real Estate
