Selling your home is bad for your mental health.
That's the opinion of 62% of 2,000 home sellers who participated in an online survey in May 2022 commissioned by Offerpad and conducted by market research company OnePoll.
Offerpad, the real estate tech company, released its survey results highlighting the impact Americans say selling their home has had on their lives.
In addition to the majority citing the negative effect on their mental health, respondents highlighted other pain points in the home-sale process. Among them:
- 63% of respondents said they considered taking their home off the market because of the stress associated with showings and open houses.
- 53% said they spent more time preparing their home to sell than they wanted or expected, indicating reluctant attitudes and expectations associated with selling real estate.
- 76% said they spent more money preparing their home for sale than they wanted or expected.
- 52% said they’d accept less for their homes to avoid the time and energy of preparing for open houses or showings.
Stress seemed the main influence on home-seller responses. The survey’s respondents ranked moving, preparing their home for sale, and planning funerals as their top three most stressful life events — above events like having surgery or going through a divorce.
Other stress-inducing results from the survey included:
- 44% percent of respondents said they started preparing their home for an open house or showing a month or more in advance.
- 25% rated managing pets as the most loathsome part of preparing for an open house or showing, followed closely by getting their family out of the house (22%).
- 31% said organizing closets and cabinets was something they did to prepare their home for sale, while 28% of sellers said they baked something fresh to prepare for a prospective buyer.
