The Baggage We Bring To Property Decisions

There are some words in real estate that look perfectly innocent until you say them to the wrong person.

“Downsize.”

To one homeowner, it means freedom. A smaller garden, less maintenance, lower running costs and more time to travel.

To another, it means giving up the family home where the children grew up, Christmas happened for 30 years and every room has a memory.

Same word. Completely different meaning.

“Renovation” can sound like an exciting opportunity to one buyer and six months of dust, contractors and unexpected expenses to another.

“Offer” can make a seller excited because someone wants their home. But if the number is lower than expected, that same word can suddenly feel like an insult.

And then there’s one of the most emotionally loaded words in property:

“Overpriced.”

An estate agent may use it simply to describe the relationship between a property’s asking price and what current buyers appear willing to pay.

But that’s not necessarily what the homeowner hears.

They may hear:

• “You don’t appreciate my home.”

• “You don’t understand what we’ve spent here.”

• "You’re telling me my property isn’t special.”

Except none of those things were actually said.

Property has a remarkable ability to blur the line between value and emotion.

And understandably so. A house isn’t a share certificate.

• You don’t raise children inside a unit trust.

• You don’t remember your daughter’s 10th birthday in a fixed deposit.

• You don’t look at a stock portfolio and remember where your father always sat when he visited.

Homes accumulate history.

That’s why two people can walk through exactly the same property and see completely different things.

One sees an old kitchen. Another sees solid cabinetry that will last another 20 years.

One sees a large garden that needs work. Another already knows where the grandchildren are going to play.

One sees a dated home requiring renovation. Another sees an opportunity to buy into a neighbourhood they couldn’t otherwise afford.

Neither is necessarily wrong.

They’re simply looking through different filters.

The same happens with price.

A seller naturally looks backwards: what they paid, what they spent, the improvements they made and the years they enjoyed there.

A buyer looks forward: What else can I buy for this money? What will I need to spend? Does this home give me the life I’m looking for?

And the market sits somewhere between those two viewpoints.

That’s why I believe good real estate advice requires more than knowing what properties have recently sold for.

It requires understanding people.

When I tell a seller that buyers are resisting a price, I’m not telling them their home isn’t valuable.

When a buyer makes a lower offer, I don’t automatically assume they’re being disrespectful.

And when somebody says, “I don’t like this house,” sometimes what they’re really saying is simply:

“I can’t see myself living here.”

Words in property carry baggage.

• Home.

• Value

• Offer.

• Price.

• Renovation.

• Retirement.

• Downsize.

• Mortgage.

• Sell.

• Move.

Behind every one of them can be years of memories, expectations, fears and plans. Perhaps that’s worth remembering the next time you’re buying or selling a home.

Sometimes the most important part of a property conversation isn’t the word that was spoken.

It’s what the person hearing it believes it means.

Nick Davel

RE/MAX Coastal

Knysna Property Specialist