Most home sellers have heard of buyer’s remorse when a buyer regrets the amount that they spent on a purchase. This often happens in the real estate industry, when buyers have their offer accepted on a house and then immediately begin to think they should have made a lower offer.
However, this also happens on the flip side, even though it isn’t talked about as much. It’s called seller’s remorse, and it is when a seller has regret, thinking that they could have held out for a higher price.
When does seller’s remorse happen?
Interesting enough, seller’s remorse doesn’t just happen in a buyer’s market; it happens in all markets. Even in a hot seller’s market when the seller has accepted an offer for well over the listing price, they can still have regret thinking they should have taken a higher price.
When do home sellers feel remorse?
One of the times that home sellers begin to feel regret the fastest is when the buyer accepts a counter offer quickly. When this happens, the seller starts to think that the buyer accepted the counteroffer too quickly and that they left money on the table. They start doubting their negotiating skills and think that they could have gotten a higher price.
Homeowners are usually not used to negotiating prices, and therefore they don’t feel confident in their skills. When the offer is quickly accepted, the insecurity of their skills comes to the forefront.
The truth of it all
When you start to feel regret as a seller, it’s important that you determine if it is just regular seller’s remorse or if you actually should have held out. The majority of the time you will realize that it’s just a normal thing that every seller experiences. The way to determine the difference is to go back and look at the terms of your deal.
Compare the price that you received compared to the comps in the area. A lot of times this will be enough to show you that you made a good deal after all.
But don’t forget that there is more than just price that goes into the deal. Did the buyer agree to purchase the house as-is, bypassing the inspection contingency? Many times if you negotiate the buyer up in price, they may come back to negotiate it down lower once they have the results of the inspection.
You can also look at the appraised value of the house. Even if you could have gotten the buyer to agree to a higher price, it might not have been able to appraise for the amount that it needed, thus ruining the deal altogether.
It is possible to make a bad deal as home sellers, but most of the time when home sellers feels regret, it is simply seller’s remorse. In the end the goal was to sell the house, and if you found a buyer that was able to make an offer, get approved for financing, and make it to closing, you have succeeded in what you set out to do.