While we want you to be selective in your house hunt, you also must understand that compromise is a key component of a successful home purchase. No one that we have ever met feels the home they bought is perfect. Take our word for it — you could spend $5 million on your home, and there would still be things about it you wish were different. In order to strike the balance between selectivity and necessary compromise, you must first cultivate clarity in your head and in your communications with your Realtor about your wants, needs, deal-breakers and how all of these are prioritized with respect to each other.
Also, we have found that long, long house hunts often result when there is still internal conflict or doubt about what you are looking for, or where your vision has not been clearly communicated to your Realtor. To remedy this, we developed a writing exercise that many homebuyers have found helpful in developing clarity about the sort of home that will enable them to have the lifestyle they seek.
Sit down when you have an hour, with a clean notebook or journal, and write out your “Vision of Home.” Most house hunts start out with the buyer filling out a questionnaire, checking boxes, and filling in blanks for how many bedrooms, bathrooms and square feet they are looking for. When you write out your Vision of Home, though, you take a step back from what you want your home to look like, instead writing out your vision of what your life will look like after you are in the home. There’s no strict structure to this, just be as comprehensive as possible. What will you do on the weekends: make Home Depot runs and work on the house, or stroll to the neighborhood cafe’? What work will you do for a living? How much will you work and for whom? What will you do for fun? Will you have people over often? Who will you live with?
From these details about the life you want to create, you will be able to more effectively drill down into the details of the sort of home you want. This will allow you to make bolder decisions during your house hunt, without the hesitation and ambivalence you might currently be experiencing. Also, putting this on paper allows you to send a copy to your Realtor, and to hold both your Realtor and yourself accountable for finding a home that will facilitate the lifestyle to which you aspire.
Action Plan
Number 1- Minimize deal-breakers. Don’t be overly restrictive in what you allow your Realtor to show you. Let them read your Vision of Home document, and allow them some leeway in using their expertise to guide you to outside-the-box options you might not have found in your midnight Internet listings search.
Number 2- When you get into contract on a particular home, revisit your Vision of Home document before you remove your contingencies or your objection period expires. If the place you picked is aligned with most of your important lifestyle aims, your buyer’s remorse will vanish. If it’s not, you still have time to back out before it costs you anything!
