When buying a property, whether its to get on the ladder for the first time, or buying a dream home, we spend a lot of time deliberating the location, square footage and of course the price! However, all that can be forgotten in a moment by the emotional reaction of seeing a property for the first time. The smells, colours and even the sounds both outside and within the property can influence the way you feel about it.
In 2002, a study published in the Journal of Advertising Research stated that emotion may be twice as important as knowledge in consumer decision making. Further research shows that the role of emotion when in a buying position may vary with the individual person or circumstance, however, there’s little doubt that overall emotion is a critical factor in consumer psychology.
While it is probable that you will feel an emotional tie to where you live, its important to keep in mind the logical reasons of why you wish to buy a property in the first place. For instance, you may think that purchase of a particular property will represent how you would like to be perceived, or you may fall in love with a house and dismiss the mouldy smell by suggesting it just needs airing out. You look at a house and begin to wonder what your neighbours will be like, and how they’ll be your friends, or you may imagine the community around it. Lots of influences come into play and that’s when you need to step back and rationalize your thoughts.
Often people feel that having too much choice can lead to inaction. So, if you’ve had a day of house hunting, take the time afterwards to run through what you’ve seen and can scratch off the list – after all, if you’ve seen a dozen poor properties and then one decent one, you’ll assess the decent one as being better than it is.
Finally, it is important to keep in mind that your real estate agent is there to help you find what you really want, this may take time and is often not what you had originally thought.
