San Francisco Real Estate - Residential

Overcoming buyers remorse with San Francisco real estate

A reader asks:

I am considering buying a home in San Francisco, but have all these fears that I will make the wrong choice or that once I am in, I won't be able to afford it. How can I get past this?

Our reply:

What you are experiencing is not uncommon, whether it is before you buy or after. If you had already purchased it would be called "buyer's remorse". And there are 5 things you can do to help you feel more comfortable with the decision.

1. See a lot of houses. Make sure you get a good idea of your needs and wants, write them down and compare them to the features of each property you look at. Of course, when there is a lot of inventory on the market this step is easier. But if you have what you want firmly fixed in your mind, it will make it easier to decide if you happen to find that "stale" listing with the features you want. In such a case, you might be able to negotiate a better price, even in a seller's market.
2. Make sure you have been preapproved with a lender. Running the numbers will give you tremendous confidence that you are buying something you can afford.
3. Talk to friends and family who can help you reinforce your decision. Janis Stone has developed a property test that she puts in her open house booklets. It helps buyers to rate properties when they are out seeing so many open houses. The Excel spreadsheet can be downloaded here by right clicking this link and choosing "save target as" on your desktop. Print it out and rate the properties as soon as you leave the open house.
4. Make it personal. Picture changes you would make once you owned the home. Thinking about things you might do to add value or "make it your own" will go far to giving you confidence that this it the right house or condo for you.
5. Don't over-think it! Tony Robbins calls it "looping" where you keep running different scenarios over and over again in your mind, never making a decision to do anything. If you've done your homework, you can be confident that your choice is perfect... for now. After all, no decision has to be permanent unless you want it to be.

MarketWatch by Dow Jones has a nice article covering these points in its latest "weekend edition" which may be found here. It is about "buyers remorse", but we think you can see how it can apply to your situation as well.

Good luck.

- Mick Orton

posted by SFResidence.com @ 8:47 AM