Buyer Dissonance
Buyer Dissonance; the Right Choice?
The family home is sold, regret, reminiscing, and what ifs are still going through your mind. You are grateful that open homes are done and there is a SOLD sticker on the board. Time to buy your next, maybe your last, home.
No need to be concerned about schools or public transport, this home is FOR YOU, what you want, where you want. A flat block, no stairs, garaging, walk to shops, the beach, the National Park, this time it’s all about you, and the next part of life.
It’s hard to get it all out of your head, the worry about other people, what will they think, will they visit, will they think you are crazy? You have approached buying your next home with caution, you have given it a great deal of consideration, probably too much thinking happening, too many checklists too.
To achieve everything on your list at a price you want to spend (and when did houses get so expensive!) you go to ALOT of open homes, you ask ALOT of questions, and you are well practiced with google maps, time to destination and directions.
Being mindful that you need to buy your next home and line up your settlement dates, you don’t want to dilly dally, you want everything to flow smoothly. You have been watching the market for a while, and when a home pops up that seems to tick most boxes you pursue it. You have the funds, you can outbid developers, and first home buyers. You are pretty confident that if you don’t panic then you can GET THAT HOME.
SUCCESS. It’s done, mission accomplished. Well done to you. No more looking, seriously, stop looking online, it’s time to begin your new life. Stop it, delete the real estate apps from your phone, unsubscribe to new home alerts. Do it now!
Watching other homes that were high on the list to pursue, happy because you were successful at auction and don’t need to worry about the nervous tension of being the winning bid (because you achieved THAT goal), and interested to see what the other homes sold for.
Dissonance, questioning your choice
Did they sell higher or lower than your expectation?
A moment or two of “What if we bought that one”
Buyer dissonance is real, it strikes even through your delight that your home search is over.
When does it strike? It varies for everyone. If you buy through private sale then Cooling Off can be a trap for your dissonance to take over your happiness, changing to fear of “what have I done”. Depending on the strength of your dissonance, Cooling Off allows you to change your mind, get out of the Contract, and begin your home search anew with only a minor cost.
There is no cooling off with auction. It’s done. No place for regret. You can only move forward, to change your mind post auction is very expensive.
Researching homes is more than how they look – the latest furniture, a fresh coat of paint, an updated kitchen, or bathroom, or maybe both. Too often home buyers get hung up on looks, they may ignore their wish list because a home looks fresh and inviting. The sellers will be happy, their goal would be achieved, their hard work with presentation has paid off.
Auction Day arrives and you walk through the home again. It still appeals however you have had time to think. The floorplan is wrong, the location is wrong, the position is wrong, the renovations were poorly done. Do you still bid? Do you walk away? You have committed to the home – the conveyancer has checked out the Contract and Section 32, building and pest inspections have been done, you have organised someone to bid on your behalf. Money, time and energy spent. Do you proceed or do you lower your walk away price?
Your pricing research works out at the lower end of the price guide (this is rare in Melbourne currently with underquoting the prevailing norm). You know that you are unlikely to be successful at the Auction and internally you breathe a huge sigh of relief. You may even make a bid so that you can say that you tried and were unsuccessful. But what if everyone else has reached the same conclusion and they back away and you become the highest bid?
Fears such as the above – winning the home that you don’t really want, or winning the home that you want but overpaid, or winning the home but there is another home that is new to the market that ticks more of your boxes.
Confidence in your purchase comes from exploring what you really want, need, and must have in your new home, being firm in your maximum, walk away price, and knowing why you were buying a home in the very first place.
Be happy. Your new home, the location, size (and shed) is all that you wanted, AND, it met most of your MUST HAVES too.
It’s why I spend so much time on the beginnings with my clients – so they get that confidence, that winning feeling at the end. No buyer dissonance here.
Buyer dissonance, also known as buyer’s remorse, is a psychological state where a consumer experiences regret, doubt, or anxiety after making a purchase. This discomfort arises from cognitive dissonance, a conflict between the decision to buy and the buyer’s beliefs or expectations. Essentially, the buyer questions whether they made the right choice, leading to feelings of unease or dissatisfaction
