We all know the term buyer’s remorse or regret. Its a term too often used, and an experience too often felt in the real estate industry. My experience in watching transactions unfold in Richmond has led me to ambitiously attempt to coin a new term:
Buyer Estrangement
From my point of view, as it pertains to real estate, buyer estrangement is the gross estrangement a buyer experiences between the desires and needs in the home they are searching for, and the amount of money they are hoping to pay for it. In other words buyer estrangement is the sizable gap between the home a buyer wants, and price they want to pay for it. Even simpler, buyers want beautiful, well kept and maintained homes, with newer appliances and systems, and of course a roof that will last them forever, but they want to pay a foreclosure price for it.
Disillusion Cured
Generally, the gap is filled, the disillusion cured, and the reality check occurs at the home inspection. The bright eyed couple, who charged the realtor with the impossible task of finding the perfect home for a rock bottom price, is now awaiting me to give them a clean bill of health. They are excited about the cleaning and painting that needs to be done, but have no idea what awaits in them in this diamond in the rough. Three hours later, after a complete inspection, they now realize that they may have gotten more than they bargained for. They aren't ready to own home that is going to need this much work. Hopefully, it occurs to them that if they want that house from the home and garden magazine, they are going to need to pay for it.
Anger Ensues
Sometimes I see the buyer angry at this point. The buyer lashes out at the realtor for not showing them any nicer homes. They refuse to admit that their price point put their agent in an impossible situation. Everything is the realtors fault! Perhaps the buyers even suggest that they don't even want a home anymore. I don't even know how realtors handle it at this point. Personally, I wouldn't be able to handle it. I will stick to inspecting homes.
My humble advice
I love working on my house. I don't mind an older home that needs some work. However, if that's not a task you are up for, you shouldn't be searching for a cheap home. If a house is priced below the fair market value, there is a reason for it, and I am going to find it. You can narrow down your desires for a home, or be willing to pay more. Personally, I love the idea of rehab loans and I would look into it. You don't need to find the perfect home, because you renovate an existing home into your dream home.
Either way, don't get caught in the void of buyer estrangement.
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