To Sell Or Not To Sell?

Every time you find yourself faced with a major decision, do you close your eyes and allow your intuitions to take the lead, or you translate your thoughts into a list of pros and cons?

For one, submitting to your intuitions can be a great way to reconnect with your innermost desires. The other is, just when you think logic and common sense are the driving force, emotions set in and take control of the steering wheel.

This brings us to the crux of this article. We’ll be looking at the impact of emotions on a significant aspect of real estate: selling.

You see, in wine, there’s wisdom, in water there’s bacteria, and in “selling” real estate, there’s “seller’s remorse” - to sell, or not to sell. 

Seller's remorse is just like a buyer's remorse, only that it's to do with a seller, instead of a buyer. As you read to the end, you will realize the parallelism.

So what is it then?

To begin with, seller's remorse is all about a homeowner having second thoughts about the whole idea of selling their home, while in the midst of the selling process; worse, just as when the selling process nears completion. 

Naturally undetected and unanticipated, seller’s remorse happens when it happens. There’s no telling when it will happen, and preparations are only in order when you understand it.

Think of it as a dark force working against you. It’s dark, unseen and impenetrable, but when it strikes, it strikes like thunder. And the results are usually undesirable.

Homeowners who fit the bill are often those that think they want to - and should - sell their house, eventually doing so without a hint of motivation and/or strategy. 

After all has been said and done, and the selling process has kick-started with the end in sight, they get this feeling that it was a huge mistake to put the house up for sale in the first instance; this particular moment instantly creates a window of opportunity for second thoughts to set in and build upon themselves, many times distressing, hence the seller’s remorse.

Testing the waters

Surprisingly, there are occasions where the homeowner puts his or her home on the market "just for the fun of it". Their reason being to test the market; to see how much their homes are comparatively worth if they were to sell it. And once their agent returns with an offer, everything around them seems to fall apart, because it was unintentional, unmotivational, no good reasons to, etc.

For the most part, how much the seller wants from the property's sale doesn't really matter at any rate, unless a much higher offer for the property was hopelessly out of the question.

Why do you want to sell?

To prevent seller's remorse, homeowners' decision to sell their house must come off the back of solid motivations. These motivations will comprise relocation plans, thinking the selling process through, goals, or otherwise solid reasons behind the decision to sell.

For those who know their way around this distressing emotion will usually begin with a pros and cons list. In other words, a benefits versus drawbacks table as the way forward in dealing with seller’s remorse. 

If the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, the selling process should proceed. If the opposite is true, then don’t bother contacting an agent.

On that note, a pros and cons list should be drawn up way before you start researching the market and contacting your real estate agent of choice.

Grieving is imminent

There’s no shame in crying your last goodbye. It’s guaranteed, natural and accepted especially when you developed fond memories and special bonds with the home itself. 

A vibrant stream of emotions coursing through your veins as the closing date is at hand are rarely abnormal, but are controllable when you understand and anticipate seller's remorse.

After-sale strategy

Stories come and stories go. Stories heal as well as break us. But no story will ever be yours truly than one with a sad ending - like another ‘fault in our stars’, or ‘blue valentine’, movies with an almost realistic touch that seem to breathe across our hearts. 

This resembles your last walk out the front door of your home, for one last time; signing off on an old story and looking forward to writing a new one. And that’s the thing, really. If you’ve got something to look forward to, after the sale is closed, then relocating amidst the memories and emotional attachments you have with your home may not be that dramatic after all. 

This is why it’s important to have an after-sale strategy in place to look forward to. Plan a trip home, or a long trip overseas to visit wantoks, so that you don’t have anything to fall back on when your thoughts try to remind you of everything former.

Better yet, working with an experienced real estate agent comes with identifying the potential issues that might just lead to a seller’s remorse.

Bottom line

Both emotion and logic have an important role to play when it comes to making positive decisions - on your part. Imagine if you understood where exactly your emotions come from, you'd be able to better manage your responses, while being totally aware of how they affect your thinking and behavior. In the end, find yourself making well-informed decisions, despite seller's remorse hovering over the horizon.

Disclaimer

This article is meant for informational purposes only. Hausples digs into the details of a specific topic and teaches its readers all about how the real estate industry operates. Therefore, not all articles are intended to be construed as financial, or investment advice. Hausples encourages you to reach out for professional help regarding your own real estate situation.