Buying a Home Is Emotional (and That’s Okay)"

Welcome to The House Blend—a casual, honest, and vulnerable space where I’ll be sharing the ins and outs of my real estate business, client wins, personal struggles, and everything in between.

Spring is here, and so is the spring housing market!

Today the sun is out (a little bit but take what you can get) and it feels like spring. After a busy and long weekend, I am looking forward to a good old fashioned day of getting my crap together.

Last week I had the opportunity to teach two Home Buyer Prep courses. Both through the local college, but one was directed towards current college students while the other was directed towards young alumni.

Both classes had solid turnout and everyone had great questions to ask. I taught it with a local lender, and instead of focusing on the “nitty gritty” of the actual home buying process (inspection reports, contingencies, appraisals, etc), we spoke a lot about building your dream team and creating great habits to set yourself up for success when it comes to buying your first home.

Something that stood out to me though, both in conversations in these classes and in other conversations with random people, was people’s reaction when I said the home buying process is super emotional.

What I mean when I say that is that there is a lot of emotion wrapped up in what is the biggest financial investment of many people’s lives. These emotions can range from excitement to disappointment to stress and anxiety. Likely you’ll experience any and all of those emotions plus more!

I don’t think people were questioning why I said that, I think they more-so were surprised for that to be something that I mentioned when people asked about being a realtor.

To me, the emotional side is one of the most important things to understand as you navigate the home buying journey. While sometimes these emotions are positive and can drive us towards taking action, other times they can hinder us, causing us to question if we’re doing the right thing or if it’s the right time. My goal in my relationships with clients is to help them understand how their emotions might be playing into their situation, and to be the voice of reason while still validating everything they are feeling.

Everyone comes into their homeownership journey with a different set of baggage and expectations. THAT IS OKAY! It is also completely normal for your journey to homeownership to look completely different than somebody else’s.

People carry different stress when it comes to money, different fears about making a big financial investment, different hopes and dreams about their new home.

First time buyers might feel anxious about the biggest purchase of their life. Down-sizers might feel sad about leaving the home where their family grew up. People relocating might feel excited about the new community that awaits them.

That to me is what I love about my job. I love that every client is different. These emotions are what make a client who they are. They directly contribute to every aspect of a transaction, and I would not be doing a very good job as a realtor if I didn’t acknowledge those emotions.

If you are in the position where you are about to buy a house, whether it is your first home or not, don’t shy away from those emotions. Lean into them, and understand them and how they might be driving you one way or another. Don’t let them hold you back, instead let them move you forward.

Here’s to finding joy in the little things—like a great cup of coffee.

Till next time,

Lil