"Soon you start bolstering your decision by selectively noticing things that support it," she said. "Ultimately, we want to have peace of mind."
Marilyn Metzl, a psychoanalyst and professor of psychology in Kansas City, Mo., said: "As you interact with your new purchase, remorse for the old dies down. You need to start developing history with the new."
Shelley and Severin Sorensen stand with thier family in front of their house they bought in Potomac, Md. from left, Hayden, 11, Britton and Bryce, both 10, front, Skylar, 4, and an exchange student from China, Sabrina Liu. At first Shelley was convinced they had made a mistake buying a house half the size of their previous one, but now she is getting used to it.
(Cathy Kapulka - The Washington Post)
|
|
A few tales of remorse:
Hot Market, High Price
Savani Tatake has a bad case of buyer's remorse. She is convinced that she and her husband paid too much for their house in Sterling. She worries that if they need to sell in a few years, they won't recoup their investment.
The Tatakes, first-time homeowners, bought their home for $352,000 in the frenzied days of March, when the local real estate market was at a fever pitch. The couple already had bid unsuccessfully on 14 houses. So their contract included an escalation clause; they beat out two competing bidders by paying $12,000 more than the asking price.
"At that point in March, it was a realistic price," Tatake said. "Other houses were going $25,000 to $30,000 over the asking price."
Tatake said she was panicked that if she didn't find something soon, she would "end up spending my life in a two-bedroom condo in Ashburn."
Now, she constantly checks sales prices in her neighborhood, hoping they will justify her purchase.
"We paid $12,000 too much for it," she said. "I'm sure that now we could've gotten it for the asking price. The market has cooled down. But we didn't know that then."
What worries her is that "five years down the line, we won't get a good price for it, that it won't go up."
The calendar could be playing a role in her anxiety, said Vince Hurteau, owner of Continental Properties, a D.C. brokerage. Most years, spring is a busy selling time, and the real estate market slows down for the summer. This year, spring was especially frantic, and those who bought then may fear they are the "person who paid the top price," he said.
"Nobody wants to be that person," he said. "We had an incredible spurt in prices in the spring. But that's how the market goes, in spurts. A big spurt and then it slows down for awhile."
Tatake said she also worries that they bought the "wrong kind of house."
She said, "We bought a house with a big yard and none of my friends want big yards. Most buyers prefer bigger homes and smaller lots. I'm worried no one will want this house."
Her family likes the big yard, though, and they would enjoy the house, she said, if only there wasn't this "annoying thing at the back of my head all the time."
She said her husband thinks she has "lost it."
