With one in two UK homeowners viewing their property just once before making an offer, home builder Countryside has teamed up with relationship expert, John Donlon, to uncover just what makes us lead with our hearts when it comes to buying a new home.
According to a recent survey by Countryside, it took just one visit for 53% of homeowners before purchasing their home, describing the experience as ‘love at first sight’. An additional 25% stated that only a second visit was needed before making a final decision.
John Donlon, commented: “For the majority of people, buying a home is the biggest purchase they will make in their lifetime and so our logic would dictate that many visits, or certainly more than one, would be the norm. That said, our home is the centre of our lives, a place to which our emotions are tied and it is therefore unsurprising that over half of people took only one visit to know that they had found ‘the one’.
Whilst there are a lot of differences between falling in love with a person compared to a property, there are also similarities. We have criteria for both people and houses and it’s our own individual hierarchy of values that provokes an attraction. However, for a person to say ‘I love this property’, what we’re really talking about is attachment. Just as with falling for a person, when we fall in love with a house it’s because it evokes a feeling of affection; it is the thing that has been missing, the place full of possibility where we can see our future.
Falling in love with someone or something is a complex psychological process and there are so many factors at play but a lot of it comes down to the associations we have with that someone or something. For example if a house reminds you of a childhood home or a place that brings back fond memories, this nostalgic wave of affection will play a part. Likewise if we see a house that has features we have seen and liked before, those features will stand out to us.
Of course for some people, buying a house is a logical decision, whilst for others it's a matter of feelings first. When it comes to couples making a purchase together, it can often be a case of combining both of these qualities and going through a convincement strategy, which makes things interesting! Find a home that meets enough of each person's criteria and you have an agreement - a ‘we’ experience.”
