Kansas City Real Estate ::JIMBEAMAN.com:: Buyer's Remorse

Buyer's Remorse

Buyer's Blues

The Realtor calls with great news! Your offer has just been accepted. Congratulations--you are about to become a homeowner!

Your initial euphoria may be short-lived, however, as you begin to have second thoughts about the purchase. First, it's the mortgage. It seems like so much money, and it will take thirty years to pay for it. You look over the cash you will need for the closing and feel like you will never be able to afford to dine out again! Finally, you stare at the inspector's report and convince yourself that the roof will blow off and every major system will fail the day after you move in. You're in a frenzy. You ask yourself, "What have I gotten into?"

The best thing to do if you begin having "second" thoughts is just relax! These feelings are so common that they have even been given a name--"Buyer's Remorse." "Buyer's Remorse" is almost always a temporary malady, but call your Realtor if you are having an extreme attack. We have experience in helping our clients through the home-buying jitters.

Buyer's Remorse

When you sign a purchase agreement on a new home, you will almost certainly feel an incredibly intense attack of panic and anxiety. Did I pay too much? Is it really the right one? How can I ever pay the enormous mortgage payments? How can I get out of it? This response--referred to as "Buyer Remorse"--is completely normal!

When you feel such anxiety coming on, call your friends who have owned a home for a few years. Are they bothered by rapidly escalating prices? Not at all! That means the value of their home is going up, too. While their mortgage payments seemed high at first, they are now probably less than renting a smaller home. There is also the pride of ownership as improvements are made to the property. Did they feel anxious when they first signed the agreement? They felt just as anxious as you feel, but they are really glad that they went through with it. When you experience "buyer's panic"--hang in there--you will be glad you did!

You and your buyers reached an agreement and signed all the paperwork for the sale of your home. After all of the documents were signed, however, the buyers began to get a little "crazy" and started making additional demands.

It is important to remember that people are rarely at their best when they are buying a house. The buyers may be suffering from "Buyers Remorse"--that intense feeling that they have paid too much and the house is going to fall down as soon as they assume ownership. They may start questioning the fine points of the structural integrity of your home or ask you to include your new washer and dryer and power mower in the transaction. Most buyers are easy to do business with, but don't take it personally if your buyers begin going through the "home-buying jitters". An important part of a Realtor's job is to do the necessary "hand holding" to get them happily settled in your home.

You have found a house in the Overland Park area which you love and really want to buy! The Realtor presents your offer to the sellers and they accept it. You feel great--until you wake up the next morning, covered with a rash and asking yourself, "What on earth have I just done?"
Occasionally we get a morning-after call from buyers who will do anything to get out of the commitment they just made. If you find yourself in this situation, there are two important things to remember. First, your rash accompanies a very common condition called "Buyers' Remorse". Almost everyone who buys a house experiences this feeling, with varying degrees of intensity, sometime between the meeting of the minds and the closing table. And second, you should know that this condition is almost always temporary. If you have a bad case of home-buyers jitters, call your Realtor and put off any decision about getting out of the agreement until you are certain that you have considered things carefully and rationally.

Dream Versus Reality

When you decide to buy a home, you may feel resistance to doing some of the things that are necessary to turn your dream into a reality. An important part of a professional Realtor's job is to help you overcome such resistance.

When you locate the property you want to buy, you will have to handle many details within a very short period of time. There is a lot of paperwork, such as the financial statement and purchase agreement, in addition to the negotiations with the sellers. You may also experience a wide range of emotions at each step of the way, everything from mild jitters to profound buyers' remorse. Just take a deep breath and trust your Realtor.

It also helps to remember that everyone who has purchased a home has experienced these same feelings--"it's too much money" or "the local market will collapse completely the day after we close". Fortunately, almost none of these fears ever come true. A professional Realtor is trained to take you through the home-buying jitters.

First Time Buyers

Most first-time buyers can qualify for a mortgage loan, but they may need help from parents to make the down payment or closing costs on their home. There are loan programs that minimize the down payment and closing costs for first-time buyers. These programs usually require that 3 to 5 percent of the purchase price come from the buyers funds, not from a loan or gift. Most lenders ask for the last three months' bank records, and the borrower will be asked to reveal the origin of any large deposits.

If the money comes from the parents, the lender may not consider those funds when qualifying the buyers. If you are planning to help your children finance a home, you should transfer any funds several months before they begin their house-hunting. If it is a loan, you should draw up a formal re-payment agreement with your children to eliminate potential misunderstandings between you, your children, and any siblings.

People who are selling their homes should know something about the market group from which their buyers are likely to appear. Many homes are perfect for a first-time buyer. First-time home buyers are usually younger (usually between 25 and 34 years of age) and have distinct buying patterns. First-timers often have to settle for homes that are smaller, and perhaps older, than repeat buyers. The median home size for first-timers is about 1450 square feet, for repeat buyers around 1900 square feet. Approximately four in ten first-timers will buy homes built before 1960, compared to two in ten repeat buyers.

First-time buyers haven't developed a strong a sense of what they want in a house, and they may not have enough money to get exactly what they want at first. Seventy-four percent say they like their new home better than their previous residence. Two-thirds (67%) of repeat buyers say they their like their new home better, probably because they are upgrading.

Mortgage Medicine

Real Estate Jitters

You want to sell your house in the Overland Park area, and you are fortunate because buyers have made you an offer that you couldn't refuse. Once the ink dried on the contract forms, however, it seemed like everything threatened to come unraveled.

Once the buyers' earnest money check cleared their account, they came up with a list of concerns that never occurred to their structural expert. Their fears and demands caused you to see them more as an adversary rather than the sweet young couple who want to start a family in your house. How could the atmosphere have changed so quickly?

You should know that buyers and sellers are both susceptible to different forms of "temporary insanity"--"Buyers' Remorse" and "Sellers' Remorse". Fortunately neither one of these conditions is contagious to Realtors. An important part of our job is to help our sellers and buyers through their buying or selling jitters with understanding and humor.