If you sold your home at a good price, you’d be thrilled, right? But what if, a year or two later, or in the current market just six months later,  you check in on your old home by idly punching your former address into Realtor.com or Zillow and discover that its value has shot up even higher? In other words, had you only held onto this property a little longer, you could have made even more.

Welcome to home seller’s remorse—a rampant feeling among home sellers. It can hit at any point after a home sale. Sellers are stressed with fears that they’ve sold the home too soon, thus losing out on tons of money. Home seller’s remorse is now common among sellers just pondering a sale, stressing those who are thinking of selling but are worrying that they should wait a bit longer so as not to miss out on the additional windfall. How much is enough? just a little bit more…..

Sometimes sellers also have sold but then  opted for a replacement that seemed good at the time but after living there for 6-12 months, they don’t like their new abode. Enter seller-turned-buyer remorse. This one is become more noticeable now that COVID’s restrictions have eased and it’s time to get back to “Normal”. Now that they are no longer trapped at home, they miss where they were living before.

Enter coulda-shoulda-woulda….

Sound painfully familiar? In the strong seller’s market we have now, where prices are rising across the country, it’s commonplace.

Sellers, it’s time to  time to stop second-guessing and make peace with what you sold your home for. It was top dollar at the time. Here are some reasons you should never worry whether you’re selling your home too soon.

Reason 1: You can’t time the housing market
Have you ever heard how you can’t time the stock market? The same sage advice applies when selling a house. The cystal ball or special powers to time the market really don’t exist.  When Sellers ask: so what home prices will do next; even economists and real estate agents wouldn’t dare make predictions with any level of certainty. Trends are based on facts and facts in real estate are sold properties. It’s a trailing indicator.  Hindsight of course is 20/20.

To snap yourself out of this mindset, remind yourself that home prices could also drop—in which case you will be thanking your lucky stars that you sold when you did.  So if home prices do indeed rise a year or two later, it can help to take a step back and consider the long-term perspective.

Reason 2: If you wait, the price of homes you’re buying could rise, too
Remember you bought a replacement property and if all prices have gone up, then you’ve made money on the purchase.  Many clients are accomplishing more than just cashing in: maybe downsizing from a large house or moving to a different location played a part in the decision. So keep those other things in mind.

Reason 3: Chances are the thought of selling is not all about the money
When talking about a primary residence, there’s more emotion involved.  A home is not like stocks, where the only thing that matters is the price. Homes are a reflection of your current needs and as such, change as do your life circumstances. Do you still really need four bedrooms and a huge yard with a pool when it’s just the two of you? Do you really want a 2 story home as you age? Are you still commuting to your same office location? What about family members: do you want to be closer to them. Did you have a COVID baby and want to be in a more suburban location or closer to the grandparents?

So let’s step back and look at the big picture. Really ponder what you want in your next home and stop worrying about timing the market”.

If you do that, you’ll sell at just the right time.