Offer Accepted, Then Cold Feet. 7 Ways To Feel Good About Your Home Purchase
After a long search, you finally have an accepted offer on a home. You’re excited, hopeful, and at the same time, wondering if you made the right decision.
A serious case of cold feet is setting in.
How do you know if you should go through with the home purchase?
Is Getting ‘Cold Feet’ Normal?
It’s totally normal to get cold feet after a big decision: marriage, a new job, or a certain investment. You might also feel buyer’s remorse.
So how do you know if it’s the right choice?
There’s no way to guarantee you made the best possible decision since the results are in the future. But you can move forward with a home purchase with confidence with some sensible steps.
1. Keep a Long View
Every investment is more expensive initially. You’ll spend more each month and your savings will dwindle. On the contrary, continuing to rent is cheaper upfront. But in five years, homeownership gets more affordable as your income rises, while rent growth matches or surpasses your income growth. Put less weight on the initial cost. Ask yourself how you will feel about the decision in five, 10, and 20 years.
2. Trust the Budget
Budgets don’t lie. Hopefully, you've created a budget around your new home payment. You can afford the home as long as your income continues at the current rate. It’s normal to feel like your budget is uncomfortably tight for the first few years of homeownership.
3. Know That Savings Are There For a Reason
It’s hard to see your savings account go from a large number to a much smaller one. But this is what savings are for: to invest in worthwhile goals. Yes, keep an emergency fund, but don’t keep savings intact at the expense of future benefit.
4. Remember that Inflation is Now Your Friend
When you buy a home, inflation works in your favor. You’ve locked in today’s home price at a fixed interest rate and payment. But home values, rents, and your income keep going up. In ten years, your friends who did not buy will look at your housing costs with envy. They will pay more for a small apartment as you do for your house.
5. Create Backup Plans
Perhaps the biggest fear when buying a home is that you’ll lose your job. You can mitigate some of the risk by creating a backup plan now. Can you rent out a room? How long will your emergency fund last? Can you get a 401k loan or open an emergency HELOC for tough times? Make a plan for a financial shock, though you may never need it.
6. Stay Off of Home Listing Sites
It’s too easy to keep window shopping for homes after you have an accepted offer. You might find a house that is cheaper, bigger, more spacious, or otherwise looks better online. But you don’t know if there’s something wrong with it or it will be bid up with multiple offers. It would be unwise to cancel your offer in hopes of finding a “better” home. Looking at new listings can only hurt your situation.
7. Don’t Time the Market
Many buyers feel like home prices and rates are on their way down, so they should cancel their purchase and buy later. This rarely works. It’s nearly impossible to buy a home at the exact right time. Most people buy during a mediocre time that only looks good in hindsight. Even if rates and prices drop, time will eventually make up for unforeseeable mistakes and make you look very smart.
Moving Forward with Confidence
You didn’t enter into the homebuying decision lightly. You felt good enough about this home to make an offer, and that’s saying something.
There is no perfect decision, just solid ones with a good chance of working out. Trust yourself and the process. Take the long view. In a few years, you’ll be glad you did.
Tim Lucas is the editor and Lead Analyst for MortgageResearch.com. Tim spent 11 years in the mortgage industry and now leverages that real-world knowledge to give consumers reliable, actionable advice. He has been featured in national publications such as Time, U.S. News, MSN, The Mortgage Reports, and more.
