Every real estate agent has heard clients say “We LOVE this house, it’s absolutely perfect for us, but we JUST started looking.” When I hear this, and my clients decide to pass on purchasing that house, I KNOW that they will come to regret it. Every house they view from then on gets compared to this first one, which then becomes "the one that got away."
I’ve had some happy endings, where the house was still on the market a couple of weeks later after my clients were able to get out and see enough houses with me and via Open Houses to feel 100% certain that they were ready to offer. Yet the majority of the time, especially in the current market, the house will be long gone.
So I’d like to challenge this way of thinking for those out there. You likely visit houses all the time – they are just not on the market for sale. When you visit your neighbors, family, friends, and colleagues, you are subconsciously forming opinions on what you like and don’t like, how much space you need, what types of finishes and architecture you like, whether a location would work for you, and more. You might even be aware of how much they paid for the home, or what the rent or mortgage is!
When it comes down to it, although you were not actively shopping for real estate at that time, you were previewing and THAT is how you have arrived at a decision that a home is the right fit for you! So my advice is to trust your instinct and be glad that you did not spend weeks, or even months, searching for homes, belaboring “the one that got away”!
