How To Deal With Homebuyers' Remorse
The home buying process is full of excitement, opportunity, and sometimes even pressure to move quickly if you are in a competitive real estate market. You may think you've identified what you need to know before buying a home. Unfortunately, even though many people work to understand as much as possible about the property they are buying, you don't really know how well it fits your family until you move in and start living in it.
According to a report conducted and published by Zillow, three out of four people who bought a home have buyer's remorse, where they have at least one regret related to that purchase. It's super easy to get caught up in the buying process and miss or overlook concerns that end up costing you later. Yet, once you move in after signing a stack of closing documents, you may not be sure you have any options moving forward. If you have buyer's remorse, take into consideration what you can do to deal with the outcome of your hasty decision-making.
Talk to your real estate agent
In many cases of home buyer's remorse, the problem is not liking the home or learning it takes a long time to get to the freeway. Those are your mistakes for not understanding what you were buying, which are hard to fix. Sometimes, buyer's remorse stems from truly unfair situations, such as the basement of your new home flooding a few weeks after you moved in or the roof caving in, exposing your family to mold not otherwise disclosed. In many situations, you may have to foot the bill for these losses, but American Family Insurance recommends cluing your real estate agent into the mix.
In some situations, your real estate agent may be able to take another look at the contract and determine if the previous owner was deliberate or misleading in the information provided to you about the home. In some cases, they may be able to take legal action. Therefore, it is worth calling your realtor to find out if you have any recourse in situations like this.
Consider the property an investment
If you really regret the home and it is just not working for your lifestyle, it can feel like an impossible step to remain there. You could list the property for sale and then move on, but doing this can be costly, and you may be trapped in your loan contract for some time. On the other hand, if moving is essential in your case, it may be worth taking any losses and turning the corner.
Real Simple offers the idea of turning the property into an investment for you and considering getting another home to live in. For those that are do-it-yourselfers and willing to learn the processes, this could be a way for you to get out of living there. You could even hire a property management company to handle it for you. Of course, you may need to be handy, and you still have to deal with the problems in the house, but this way, you may not have to live in that space.