About 70 percent of homeowners who completed both a home-sale and home-purchase transaction within the past five years said they felt worried during the buying and selling process, while 67 percent said they felt hesitant, according to a survey conducted for RealEstate.com.
About 42 percent said the uncertainty of knowing how quickly their home would sell was difficult or more difficult than expected, and considered that time the most significant emotional low in the process, the company also reported.
The survey gathered responses from 550 “bridging” homeowners – those who have been involved in both a home sale and home purchase.
Sixty-two percent of bridging homeowner respondents were successful “dual-closers,” meaning they were able to close on their existing home and move into their new home without a significant lapse in time, RealEstate.com reported. The remaining homeowners who bought and sold were either “homads” (those who sold their homes but had not yet closed on a new one) or “dual-owners” (those who closed on a new home but had not yet sold their original home).
Other survey findings:
- About 48 percent of all respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the dual negotiation process was taxing. Almost 53 percent of those respondents were women.
- About 47 percent said they agree or strongly agree that getting their home in sale-ready condition took more time and energy than expected.
- About 53 percent of respondents from the Midwest said they felt that it was slightly easier to buy a home, while 36 percent of respondents from the Northeast said they felt it was slightly easier to sell a home.
- About 78 percent of respondents had no regrets as a result of the process. Men were more likely than women to say that they would have sold their existing home before making an offer on a new home (9.9 percent vs. 8.8 percent), and women were more likely than men to say they would have never moved (7.8 percent vs. 6.6 percent), RealEstate.com reported.
Holly Slaughter, consumer experience expert for RealEstate.com, said in a statement, “Many people underestimate the emotional overload of selling one home and buying another at the same time. That sense of uncertainty, which is always present to some degree during a home sale or a home purchase, is basically doubled for bridging homeowners. The only antidote is to spend some time planning for contingencies and to set your expectations realistically.”
