Avoid Sellers Remorse

(Selling a property is a major decision, especially when the property emotionally becomes your home. )

When you decide to sell, there are a number of things you must consider what you will be losing as well as to what you will be gaining.

The worst thing you can do when selling a home is to be indecisive. This, along will a few other factors could lead to the dreaded "seller's remorse."

The article, "Home seller's remorse: Will it strike you?" written by Bob Bruss and posted on Inman News on November 10, 2006, provides some helpful tips on how to avoid seller's remorse.

"Ask any experienced real estate agent and he or she can probably regale you with stories of their home sellers who changed their minds about selling. As a buyer, having encountered several of these sellers who suffered 'seller's remorse,' I know how frustrating this disease can be."

Experienced real estate agents can often prevent this from happening by asking the seller why he or she wants to sell before even agreeing to list the property.

If the seller responds with a justified reason such as a job transfer, relocating closer to family, a divorce or a pending foreclosure, then seller's remorse is not likely to set in upon the buyer's offer.

However, if the seller claims to want to sell the property for indefinite reasons such as "testing the market," moving to a better neighborhood or downgrading from a house to a condo, the remorse disease may ultimately become prevalent.

There are two common situations the seller will want to think of before listing his or her property because they can often lead to remorse.

"Longtime homeowners are likely to incur this disease shortly after listing their house or condo on the market for sale. To illustrate, just a few days ago, I met an elderly lady who was going through her scrapbook as she was cleaning out her house in preparation to move to an assisted-living residence. As she threw away the yellowed newspaper clippings, she told me that only 10 percent of the clippings were worth saving."

So, this woman is the exception but many people who have lived in one primary residence for say longer than 25 years will have a personal and emotional attachment to the property and may not realize it until they are cleaning out the closet or going through photo albums.

If this becomes apparent, the best thing to do is cancel the listing as soon as possible. You will not be able to change your or the seller's emotions and the further the selling process develops the more costly it will become when you ultimately have to back out.

"The second and most common situation where home seller's remorse strikes occurs shortly after the home seller accepts a buyer's purchase offer. This is the moment when the home seller understands it's time to move out and he or she realizes the 'old home' is pretty nice after all."

The escrow period, which lasts about 30 to 60 days, is when sellers will begin reminiscing about the "good old days" they had in the home. Again, if you as a seller or agent discover this remorse settling in, you must cancel the listing or transaction as soon as possible.

You do not want to have to bring legal ramifications into the situation if the seller decides to back out during or after closing and the deposit has already been received.

It seems obvious that a seller should have already thought these emotions through before deciding to sell but all it takes is one photograph or child's finger-painting to change their mind.

Back to Articles