With today's market conditions, experienced mortgage originators are telling their customers right now to buy the house they want, but "date the rate" — noting that interest payments can be reduced through refinancing.
But in an actual comparison between the home buying process and dating, most consumers find the former to be more stressful, a Redfin study said.
Respondents, a subset of 1,000 people who purchased property in the prior year and participated in a buyer survey conducted in May and June, were given a list of life events to compare buying a home with.
When it comes to dating, 59% of respondents said buying a house was more traumatic. Only two other events had a higher negative response — 66% said a home purchase was more stressful than buying a car, while 61% said this provided more internal pressure than potty training a child.
"Getting ghosted by your date is stressful, but purchasing a home in today's market comes with its own unique set of anxieties," said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather in a press release. "Buyers are increasingly ghosting sellers as housing costs climb, and high mortgage rates are prompting many homeowners to stay put instead of selling.
Instead, potential buyers "have a record low number of homes to swipe right on," Fairweather continued.
Just two other life events, getting a divorce and finding a new job, gave respondents more agitation than the current purchase market, they said. Those are also the primary reasons right now that people are looking for a new place to live, Redfin noted. Approximately 10% of sellers are acting in response to their employers return to office mandate.
The survey also found that among Black respondents, 57% said getting into college was more stressful than buying a house. This was the opposite of whites, where 64% called a home purchase a more stressful event. For the full sample, 58% declared home buying was more stressful than finding a college.
