Buyer’s Remorse: What to do if your FOMO property purchase leaves you feeling flat

It’s been a mad year for buying up real estate. In the property ladder rush, many house buyers are spending over budget for homes in unfamiliar areas. For some, buyer’s remorse has set in.

Residz Team 4 min read

It’s been a mad year for buying up real estate. In the property ladder rush, many house buyers are spending over budget for homes in unfamiliar areas. For some, buyer’s remorse has set in. A 2021 survey out of the U.S. found two-thirds, or 64%, of millennials and 43% of all homeowners are feeling some remorse about their purchase. It may be similar in Australia so if that’s you, here’s why you might feel it and what to do about it.

Buyer’s remorse - we all get it

From the smallest to the largest purchase, a touch of buyer’s remorse almost always follows. Joey Coleman, author of Never Lose a Customer Again, says remorse comes when those feelings of joy and euphoria and excitement start to recede, and are replaced by fear and doubt and uncertainty. We think ‘What if this doesn’t work out the way I had planned?’ ‘What if I was oversold by the salesperson and I just fell for their sales techniques?

Solution: Give yourself a break. It’s natural to feel concerned when you’ve made as big a  purchase as a property.  

FOMO - the rush to buy

Buyer’s remorse could come after those hurried FOMO buys. By March 2021, Australian property prices were rising at the fastest rate in 17 years. Auction success rates hit 90% and FOMO — or the fear of missing out — set in. Buyers felt pressured to snap up simply what was available. FOMO was one of the primary drivers for people making quick decisions on real estate this year.

Solution: So you follow the crowd, it happens! You’re on the property ladder so switch to practising gratitude you got there.

Lockdowns - the rush to leave

The pull of a better lifestyle, climate, property pricing, and opportunities are a reason people buy out of state. However, the pandemic added a new element - that of push. Buyers struggling to remain mentally healthy in lockdown states felt a push from seemingly endless restrictions on their movement and ability to socialise, adding to the push from the rising prices in their own property market. Deciding to buy was as much about ‘I’ve gotta get out of here’ as anything else.

Solution: Be kind to yourself. The pandemic was a tough gig, and looking after your health was an important consideration.

Perspective - cheap properties look so attractive

When Sydney's median price rose 30% in a year to more than $1.3 million, and Melbourne and Canberra’s over $1 million, interstate and regional areas looked cheap in comparison. ‘Bargains’ for $400,000 within two hours of a city or beach were considered so cheap buyers bought them sight unseen. Now they’ve come up for air and are finally moving in, they’re looking around and asking themselves ‘What have we bought into?’

Solution: Treat this as an adventure. You can’t expect to replace everything you’ve loved, so start exploring.

Where moving ‘to’ is not thought through

Buyers securing something, anything, in their price range may not be paying attention to details like researching the climate into which they’ve bought. Parts of Australia can be extreme in temperature, and inhospitable in summer. Exposure to heat has killed more people in Australia than all other natural hazards combined. Scientific studies show really hot weather affects mood and wellbeing, levels of violence, productivity, and can detract from quality of life. As the climate warms, temperatures are projected to rise substantially, increasing the impact of heat stress and heat illness nation-wide.

Solution: Look at house swaps or holiday rentals during the hottest (or coldest) times of the year. Speak to locals and find the best ways to cool (or heat) yourself and your home cheaply.

Maintenance - the hidden costs

House ownership comes with house maintenance. Pure and simple. Those bills that used to go to the landlord are now yours when you become a homeowner. There are always jobs to be done, and some of them can be costly. For example, unblocking a drain can cost as much as $730 (so be careful what you flush down the loo). Around one in five millennials (21%), and 8% of homeowners overall, said their buyer’s remorse was mainly due to maintenance and other costs being ‘too high’, according to the Bankrate survey.

Solution: Save an amount specifically for home repairs. Some experts recommend 1%-4% of your home’s value, depending on age.  

Don’t like the neighbourhood

A ‘bad location’ is commonly the reason for buyer’s remorse. This is a very subjective assessment and could have as much to do with your response to the way people dress as the way they behave towards you. However, you can check crime trends for your address on Residz.com and see if there’s any valid reason for you to feel this way.

Solution: Get on the front foot and join or start neighbourly events like Christmas street parties or community gardens. You get out what you put in.

Boredom - the reality of the same holiday

Buyer’s remorse might well set in after your third weekend painting your ‘holiday’ house. Holidays in the same spot at Hawks Nest in NSW suited former Prime Minister John Howard and his family for 19 years. However, it might wear a bit thin after a while for your own family. Spending the so-called holiday doing repairs could speed up that remorse too; what happened to the days of pina colada by the pool that we imagined?

Solution: Set aside at least one day every visit to relax. Visit local areas and take the time to get to know other residents.

Summary

Buyer’s remorse can leave you feeling sick to the stomach, and far from that emotional high you felt when you ‘won’ the bid on your new property. To get rid of all that emotional uncertainty you need to go back and revisit why you bought:

Then, next time you buy, make sure you do more thorough research before you buy. Residz.com is a good starting place and covers aspects like investability, bushfire risk, crime trends, local schools and amenities, internet connections, neighbourhood demographics and more.

Image: Balloonacy