Your Logic May Be Getting In Your Way

I’ve said several times that a home purchase is as much of an emotional decision, as it is a financial one.  Even the most practical buyer, the one with the pro/con list on a handy clipboard is making an emotional buy.

Maybe this is why so many women have been so good in real estate sales, maybe it is why MLS descriptions are peppered with so many grandiose adjectives.  But as a buyer and as a seller, you must accept this and allow your heart to be an equal partner (if not the leader) of your next real estate transaction.

As a buyer, you should welcome the use of your intuition and gut reaction to things.  You don’t have to be able to explain why you do or don’t love a home.  Often, the best homes do not meet our expectations, but they are still the right home for us.

Over and over again I would find the following pattern with young buyers:  After the initial meeting of going over criteria for a home, we generate a list of homes to view.  After exhausting this list, which match the original list of criteria, nothing “clicks.”

When working with buyers, I would re-evaluate and revise the criteria list over and over again.  If the “logical” homes did not speak to them, that means the focus is on the wrong type of home or community.

Often, it would be a home which was unlike anything they expected to love which buyers ultimately buy.  Or, it is in a community that was not on the list, or a condo instead of a single family, etc.

Buying a home and moving represent a change in lifestyle.  If you didn’t need the change, you would stay put.  It usually means family getting bigger, singles getting married, changing jobs, retiring, upgrading or downsizing.  All of these signify lifestyle changes forcing us into a new domestic requirement.

But because this is new, we don’t often know what we want, or we can’t define it precisely.  This is why it is not only advisable, but necessary that you listen to your intuition and gut reactions.  It’s the most logical way to go.

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