The "Sad Rule" of Buying a Home

I've already detailed how wacky my house-buying experience has been, but here's one guideline I think works. I call it the "sad rule" and my agent stated it this way when we were discussing whether or not we should bid on/bid higher for some properties:

Think about it this way: would you be sad if someone else bought the house at this price? If so, you probably have a good fit for you at a fair price. If not, something's amiss and you shouldn't bid on it at this price.

Since we look at the house-buying process from an unemotional standpoint -- one that's based on fair market value and data (as much as we can get in an often apples-to-oranges comparison of different houses) -- this rule makes a lot of sense to me. And it's helped us walk away from a couple places when the price was too high. Yeah, we might be sad if the place sold (if we wanted it), but if it sold at too high of a price, we wouldn't be sad since there's no way we would have wanted to have been in the buyer's shoes.

That said, this rule won't work for the emotional I-want-it-at-any-price sort of buyer. They'll be sad if they lose a house they "love" no matter what the price is.

What's your take on this rule? Good idea or bad one? Or does it even make any sense to you (did I explain it completely enough)?

Comments

[indio]

It's a twist on the idea of "buyers remorse." Considering how unemotional you stated you are about a house, I'm not sure this something you would have regret about.

[BOB]

Do you feel the same abouts the asking or selling price of your house?

We have sold our home and are looking to buy. The homes we would like to buy seem to all be over priced, comparied to what we got for our home and what people want for homes that do not meet our wants.

Bob

[indio]

It's a twist on the idea of "buyers remorse." Considering how unemotional you stated you are about a house, I'm not sure this something you would have regret about.

[FMF]

Bob --

Yep, I look at both the buying and selling prices as an unattached observer. I'm expecting big savings on the home we're buying and big losses (versus a few years ago) on the home we'll be selling. Under no circumstance will we sell our home for a pittance and buy a place at a seller's unreasonably high price.