If you’ve always suspected that the stress of buying or selling your Chiswick home has aged you prematurely, the latest research proves you right.
Psychologists interviewed 200 Britons who have bought or sold a house in the last three months. More than two-thirds (68 per cent) reported that it accelerated the symptoms of ageing. Common side effects include hair loss (10 per cent), short-term memory failure (14 per cent) and diminished sex drive (19 per cent), with the process ageing stressed people by 25 months over the typical 15-week house-buying period.
Among the most stressed buyers and sellers, the 'ageing effect' can increase to nearly four years (47 months). Christian Harper of London estate agent OliverFinn: ‘Our low fees could help pay for any cosmetic work after the sale has gone through! Joking aside though, in my experience the process is more stressful by a lack of understanding. I often receive offers from buyers who claim ‘we will buy it in a week’, or ‘we have all the money arranged’ etc.
Lack of knowledge
"This type of comment builds expectation but is not based on fact or knowledge. When buyers then don’t manage to purchase the property in a week the other side begins to apply pressure. This is often met with hostility and comments such as: ‘It’s not our fault, the seller didn’t provide some of the paperwork until yesterday.’ Then the debate and stress begin.”
Those who have bought or sold a house continue to rate it as one of life's most stressful experiences, more traumatic than family arguments (39 per cent) or job interviews (44 per cent) and many report side-effects including sleeplessness and even physical illness.
Manage expectations
And the trauma even spills into people's personal lives, with buying a property causing disputes among four in ten couples (41 per cent), nearly as divisive as arguments over money (58 per cent) and housework (47 per cent).
The main stresses include worries about the mortgage approvals (38 per cent) and inefficient or inept lawyers (31 per cent), with more than one in ten (11 per cent) saying their solicitor 'messed them around' and the same number (11 per cent) feeling that the whole legal process simply took too long.
Harper believes it is the job of the estate
agent to manage expectation right from the start: “Your agent should explain the process to both parties including the possible pitfalls. It is easy to pass the blame to incompetent solicitors etc. However I suspect that no amount of expectation-managing will help the 10%of people suffering from hair loss!
About the research
The study, which was conducted by
PCP Market Research, was commissioned by conveyancing firm
In-Deed. All research and carried out in July 2011. Sample was 200 people who had bought or sold a property in the last 3 months. Responses were collected online.
