Home Buying Emotions VERIFIED
That feeling comes from an understanding of what that home you're looking at could become for you and your family. Home-buying is an emotional, consequential process for home buyers. It involves your head but also your heart. You know your future home is so much more than a house purchase.
home buying emotions
The process begins when people tour their future home. You step into the living room or the kitchen or the primary bedroom and... something happens. You feel an attachment forming. You start to imagine a future inside the space. You visualize your pets playing on the kitchen floor and your children running through the halls. Stockings hanging on the mantel, birthdays, celebratory dinners and late nights in the living room. The tour triggers your hopes and dreams for the future. How can you make this house your home?
But, this whirlwind of home-buying emotions can lead home buyers to make costly financial decisions. As sentimental as the home-buying process can be, buyers need to resist the urge to allow these decisions to be guided by feelings alone. Rushed decisions can lead to overpaying for a home and spreading your finances too thin, among other difficulties. To help avoid these pitfalls...
In recent years, the real estate industry has been plagued with "other" websites intent on extracting contact information to drive weak leads to realtors or remove them from the process altogether. These sites are not only filled with inaccuracies in home estimates and inactive listings, but they also function to squeeze realtors into paying for oversaturated online advertising packages.
With no real connection to the communities they purport to sell to, these sites have created a transaction-focused culture, neglecting a crucial component in the home-buying process; the emotional experience.
How do we fix this no-win situation to improve the home-buying process and return the most important aspect: creating a knowledgeable, accommodating, and trustworthy experience? What needs to change?
Homes & Land is committed to offering advertising channels with access to knowledgeable agents in hyper-local real estate markets across the United States and Canada. After being in the real estate business for more than 45 years, we understand the value real estate agents bring to the table. The home-buying process can be a challenging, emotional journey and your real estate agent should understand the importance of a home to you and your loved ones.
At Homes & Land we have created a simplified online and offline search process. By focusing on the agent and their listing portfolio, we provide a personal, reputable process to search for your perfect home.
Be sure to explain their contract in a way that will put their minds at ease and help them feel satisfied with their decision. Help educate them with this Homebuyer Mortgage Checklist that includes basic details involved in qualifying for a mortgage and other financial responsibilities. While it focuses on first-time homebuyers, this resource can still be beneficial to those who have purchased a home in the past, but are still somewhat unfamiliar with the financial process.
As clients get closer to closing, there are often problems where there once were no one. Suddenly that beautiful tile floor in the kitchen looks crooked and the ceilings are too low. And wait, was the living room always so small? When the reality of the purchase sets in, the emotional floodgates open: Is this the right home? Am I spending too much? Should I spend more? Will I love this? There are so many other houses, why am I buying this one?
As someone contemplates divorce, one of the most common concerns, after custody of the children, is whether either spouse will be able to continue living in the marital home. Most likely, the home has significant emotional value. It could represent heartfelt memories of raising your family during happier times or it could be the location of some other happy occasion, such as a wedding that was hosted there. It could also represent financial status, as it may have taken years to build or complete various improvements in the home.
As an example, if a couple has a $1 million home (with no outstanding mortgage for simplicity) and the wife wished to remain in the home, it will require her to give up $500,000 of other assets in order to buy the husband out. Another option is to obtain a mortgage on her own, which could be more challenging with only one income and half the marital assets. The $500,000 of assets she gives up could be crucial for her short-term liquidity and/or long-term financial security. This would be less of a concern if the wife has a high-income career or if any additional marital assets she receives in the property settlement are enough to provide her with the necessary annual income. Nonetheless, it is a crucial decision given the potential impact on cash flow.
Any home will be accompanied by significant monthly outflows. Monthly costs associated with the home can include real estate taxes, utilities, insurance and ongoing maintenance such as landscaping, painting and even miscellaneous repairs or improvements. If you have an outstanding mortgage on the home, this will put an additional strain on the monthly cash flow. Review in detail what the monthly costs were over the last year and if any additional costs will be necessary over the next year or two.
Have you been putting off replacing the air conditioning unit or maybe it is time for a new roof? Will these monthly and one-time costs fit comfortably into your new budget? If not, moving to a new home could possibly provide you with an opportunity to downsize and reduce those monthly outflows to better align with your new budget.
When a married couple (filing taxes jointly) sells their primary residence, the sales proceeds (net of certain selling costs) are potentially taxable to the extent they exceed the adjusted cost basis in the home. This is the estimated gain in the home. As a married couple (filing jointly), if you meet certain requirements, you may be entitled to a principal residence exclusion of $500,000 to help mitigate the taxable gain. If there is an expected tax liability upon selling (pre-divorce), the associated tax liability is also included on the marital balance sheet.
When starting this process, the best way to approach it is to first consult with your attorney to determine the possible options for property settlement and marital support. Keep in mind that these are only estimates at this stage of the divorce proceeding. Once you have this information, you should sit down with a financial advisor and/or CDFA to determine what you can comfortably afford with your projected net worth and income. If you can comfortably remain in the marital home post-divorce (after factoring in monthly savings) and that is also your preference for other reasons, then you can spare yourself the additional stress.
Conduct your search using the criteria that is important to you. Be sure to set aside additional funds for decorating and any necessary repairs or improvements. It is important to begin these discussions with your attorney, financial advisor or CDFA early in the divorce proceeding to allow sufficient time to review the analyses and begin searching for a home if necessary.
The decision whether to keep or sell the marital home is both an emotional one as well as a financial one. It should be discussed as a part of the overall property settlement. Take your time with this decision and utilize all resources available to you including your attorney, accountant and financial advisor. The emotional wounds will heal over time, but the negative financial impact of staying in a house that you cannot afford is one that will not fix itself over time.
After you declutter your home, you work with a real estate agent to get it sold. After a month on the market, you accept an offer for $300,000. With just $165,000 left on your mortgage, you bank $135,000 off the sale.
That chunk of cash catapults you forward to Baby Step 4, eliminating debt and setting you up with a solid emergency fund. To celebrate this major money milestone, you use some of the proceeds from your home sale to go on a much-needed family vacation. You also have plenty of cash left to put a sizeable down payment on a smaller home and cover any closing costs.
That kind of extra cash makes saving 15% of your income for retirement much easier. If you contribute $750 a month toward retirement for the next 22 years, you could retire with over $700,000 in your nest egg. Even better, a 15-year mortgage means you can look toward retirement with more confidence knowing your home will be paid off before you even turn 60.
Not every comment your agent receives about your home from visitors will be positive. It is important not to take these negative comments personally. You will become distracted and fixated on who said what and this could make it more difficult to sell your home. It can even cause you to refuse a decent offer.
It is better to take an objective look at the comments and to make the changes necessary to turn them around. Should a visitor who previously said something negative return to the home later and find their concern addressed, they could wind up putting in an offer. Remember, the comments made by potential buyers are about the home and not about you.
Remember, the cost of owning a home goes well beyond the mortgage principal and interest. You also have to account for property taxes, homeowners insurance, ongoing maintenance, and possibly homeowners association dues or major repairs, among other costs.
The home buying process can also test your patience, particularly when waiting for a reply to an offer, a counteroffer, or a reply to a request for repairs from the seller. We understand that waiting 24 to 72 hours or several days can seem like such a long time. Remember that these things sometimes take time, and try to be patient while the other parties involved work through their own processes. In the meantime, focus on other aspects of the home buying process, such as preparing for the move. 041b061a72