When it comes to selling a home, it’s the factors that have historically been harder for sellers to control, such as uncertainty about timing and price, that cause the most stress. It is according to the Zillow Group Consumer Housing Trends Report 2019, the largest survey ever of U.S. buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants.
The process of selling a home can be difficult – 95% of home sellers said they found some aspect of selling a home stressful. You might think that most of the stress in selling is juggling family and life while keeping the house ready for last-minute visits, but salespeople have said the top two causes of stress revolved around time. and money – things they can’t control.
Not knowing if a home will sell on time is the biggest stressor for sellers, with 56% calling it a stressful experience. Meanwhile, 53% of sellers are worried that they won’t be able to sell their home for the price they want, and 52% are stressed about an unsuccessful offer.
One of the reasons that timing and financing a home sale can be stressful is that many home sellers (64%) are buying another home at the same time. In fact, 51% of home sellers specifically found it stressful to plan the sale of their current home with the purchase of a new one.
That’s not to say that preparing and waiting for a home to sell isn’t always worrying. More than half (52%) of home sellers are concerned about making improvements to prepare a home for sale. Maintaining a home ready to market is stressful for 43% of sellers, and 39% are stressed about leaving the house for tours and open houses.
For younger or less experienced home sellers, the potential constraints of putting a home on the market are magnified. Younger salespeople are more likely to worry about leaving the home during tours and open houses than older salespeople, and Gen Z or Millennial salespeople are more likely to feel stressed due to a lack of control over the sales process than older generation salespeople.
“The two most stressful questions when selling a home – at what price and how long it will take – are a priority early in the home selling process and can have a significant financial impact,” he said. said Skylar Olson. , director of economic research at Zillow. “These results could ultimately mean the difference between retiring now or six months later or having to pay a new mortgage and renting a temporary home. In the traditional market, all kinds of decisions that influence the final sale price and closing date are in your control, like whether or not to repaint the used kitchen or spruce up the landscaping. But because there are so many decisions to be made, these two most important outcomes remain largely uncertain until the curtain closes. “
The uncertainty and unpredictability of the traditional home selling process is causing many home sellers to reach breaking point – previous Zillow study found that more than a third of home sellers cry when selling a house, and more Americans are stressed about selling a house than about planning a wedding or getting fired.
