Avoiding Buyer’s Remorse
By JD Esajian on January 17, 2014
Even though you are looking at real estate for investing purposes, the buying process is still largely the same. It starts with the pre-approval letter or access to financing and continues through the relationship you have established with your realtor. Like most other real estate purchases, there is a period of joy and excitement followed by stress and regret. Unlike a primary home purchase, your investment purchase should be rooted largely in numbers and data. Once you establish that the numbers make sense and you are moving forward, you need to stay committed to what you are doing. Buyer’s remorse can be extremely problematic.
No matter when you buy, you may kick yourself for not closing exactly when you could have. Between home prices, rental values & interest rates, trying to time the market perfectly is akin to hitting a moving target. Understand that whenever you buy there may be a better time, but there may also be a worse time too. At some point you have to draw a line in the sand and make your offer, lock in your rate and not look back. You may be buying just after rates go up or just off the bottom of the market, but you are still getting in at a very good time.
There are very few properties that will have exactly everything you are looking for. Either the location won’t be perfect or there will be things with the property that you would like changed. Whatever it is, you need to accept it and move past it. It may cost more to make the changes you desire after you acquire the property, but that is all part of investing and real estate in general. The cost of these changes should be accounted and budgeted for when you make your offer. By the time you take ownership of the property, you should be ready to act quickly.
Things will happen pretty quickly once you get closer to closing and once you take ownership. In order to save time, money and be stress free, you need to make a prioritized list of the items you need done, when you want to do them and how much they will cost. Again, the costs should be factored into your offer, but before you own the property. This will alleviate confusion around closing and will let you focus on dealing with any issues involved in the closing process.
Regardless of what property you buy, there will often be at least a little buyer’s remorse. It is very rare that you will deal with a property that is hassle free and an easy experience. Because of that, you will probably swear the property up and down at least a few times before realizing that this is part of the process. There is no such thing as a slam dunk property from the time you look at it until the time you sell it. The sooner you can accept this, the better off you will be.
Real estate investing is a difficult business that can fill you with regret if you let it. Learn from your mistakes and when you make a decision don’t look back.