Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
If you’ve ever bought a home, or are currently in the process of doing so, the stress it creates may make you feel as if the whole world has come crashing down on you. Certainly, there’s the excitement of moving into a new place, and the idea of creating memories with your family in a home of your own, but the stress involved with getting through the home buying process may impact your health - seriously.
Buying or selling a home drives us crazy!
A British firm recently conducted a study on behalf of In-Deed, a British conveyancing service, which reported something very interesting about the stress of buying or selling a home. In the study they interviewed 200 Britons who had sold or bought a house in the 3 months prior to the study. The results indicate that the stress associated with buying or selling a home can take about 2 years off of your life!
Of the individuals interviewed, more than two-thirds maintain that the process accelerated symptoms associated with aging. It’s widely believed that going through a foreclosure is more stressful than losing a close family member, however there’s no “scientific” evidence to back up this assertion.
According to Glenn Wilson, the chief psychologist for the study, “Periods of prolonged stress and anxiety - such as when buying or selling a home - can seriously take their toll on our well-being, with depression, weight loss and even premature aging a likely outcome.”
Symptoms felt among the respondents varied widely, including problems such as a diminished sex drive, issues with short-term memory and even hair loss. The length of time involved in the process determined, at least for the subjects questioned, the severity of aging that took place. For example, a normal buying or selling process of 15 weeks aged individuals by 25 months whereas buyers and sellers who were more pressed “aged” almost twice that length of time at 47 months.
Four in ten couples interviewed claimed that the event caused squabbles that “were nearly as divisive” as fights about money.
Despite the stress that such an event places on an individual, if you ask nearly anyone whether the stress associated with buying their home was worth it, chances are very good that they would answer in the affirmative.
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As a long time real estate agent in the U.S. I can say from first hand experience that lawyers do have problems communicating, especially as relates to closing costs. This is due to lenders not giving info to the lawyers until the last minute. And couples often do not agree about details and the process of packing and moving is always stressful. It's very stressful for agents too, who have to deal with endless calls from clients who worry about every little thing, as well as the paperwork which can be more than 40 pages for bank owned property! The regulations implemented since the housing market crash are only going to make the entire process more stressful for everyone.
As long as you have a good realtor who informs you of everything that goes into the process and there are no surprises, everything should be fine. No surprises and there will be a lot less stress.
Personally I think people just need to take a chill pill! Things are only stressful if you let them get to you 😉
If the lawyers would better communicate with their clients the clients are likely to be relaxed and calm.