The Emotional Rollercoaster Of Buying Your First Home
original article
Buying your first home can feel terrifying.
Why? Purchasing your first house is likely the largest investment you have ever made in your life. Not only that, but there’s a huge amount of emotion and intimacy tied to the place where you’re about to set down some roots.
Just think about it: This is the place where you’ll be creating memories for the foreseeable future. You may also rely on your home for a sense of security, safety and warmth. As the saying goes, home is where the heart is.
You’ll Experience a Range of Emotions
It’s normal to experience a range of emotions when buying a home, including excitement, optimism, caution, fear, stress and anxiety.
Because some of these emotions are uncomfortable, some people will delay the process, using limiting beliefs to justify their decisions.
For example, you might convince yourself that you should wait until you make more money to buy a house - thinking you’ll just keep waiting until you can afford your dream home. Or, maybe you stubbornly decide that you’ll wait on this big purchase until you move in with a partner or start a family.
Despite the circular self-talk; the benefits outweigh the anxiety
If any of these scenarios sound familiar, you’re not alone. But, while it’s easy to let your emotions rule your decision, it’s also important to understand that the benefits of homeownership often far outweigh your fears, anxiety or the perceived risk you may be taking.
The Benefits of Home Ownership
Besides pride of ownership, buying a home will help you achieve financial security and stability. That’s because home ownership is a form of “forced savings.”
With every mortgage payment, for example, you’re contributing to your net worth. When you pay rent, on the other hand, your money is lining your landlord’s pockets - not yours.
Homeownership can also help you build equity that can be leveraged in other ways. For example, your equity can help you customize or renovate your home, or even purchase another property. And, when it’s time to move onto your next home, you can either sell your current house, or hold onto it as an investment and rent it out.
Be an Educated Buyer
It’s important to educate yourself on the home buying process and the current real estate market. Why? This will help you feel confident in your decisions and help assuage your fears and other difficult emotions pertaining to the homebuying experience.
When you’re armed with knowledge, you’ll also become a more savvy home buyer.
With this said, it’s important to understand that while your home may be a place with emotional attachments, a purchase and sale transaction is a business deal. This is why it’s key to take emotion out of the transaction. This way, you’ll often end up with a better deal!
Let’s Buy a House!
When you embark on your home purchasing journey, it’s important to understand that - as with most things in life - there is a certain amount of unpredictability. For example, it’s impossible to know whether the value of your property will increase or potentially decrease over time. Likewise, there’s no crystal ball to tell you whether it will be a buyer’s or seller’s market when you need to sell. Want to know exactly how much your utility bills will be, how much your taxes will increase over time, or what repairs you may have to make? We don’t know the answers to those questions either. The best we can do is speculate given the data and information we have right now.
The bottom line: Be as informed as possible and don’t let your limiting beliefs prevent you from buying your first home.
Instead, align yourself with an experienced and sophisticated real estate agent who can help you navigate difficult emotions and ride out any turbulence that comes your way. Remember: Buying a home doesn’t have to be a dream. It can be your reality. Let’s make it happen!
