He advises sellers to remind homeowners, when acquiring the property, that sentimental value is not the same as economic value and that the potential buyer will see their house as just another house, even though for them it represents the property of their life.
SANTO DOMINGO.- You have surely encountered homeowners who find it difficult to part with their property and even overvalue it without taking into account what the market establishes.
This is one of the experiences that real estate agents accumulate in their memories. It's an obstacle that challenges their skills as advisors, and one they don't always overcome successfully, since persuading emotions isn't always easy.
And indeed, sentimental value often outweighs material possessions. Experiences and fond memories are treasures of the soul that transcend common human understanding, as stated by Marina del Orbe, clinical psychologist and family and couples therapist.
"There are a number of factors that give a property a sentimental value far beyond the material, where the person might want to translate it into an economic value, similar to what they made or feel.".
Annies Gómez, from House Link, says that when she encounters these cases, her approach as an agent is to talk to the owners to help them see reason, and with the support of the appraisal, she helps them come to terms with the situation. If they aren't convinced, she offers a one-month trial period to gauge market behavior, and if they still don't change their minds, she withdraws until the clients regularly call her back.
For her part, the specialist in human behavior, who works at the Dominican Association for Family Welfare (Profamilia), comments that the reality is that people have a projection of memories onto objects, depending on their experiences and what they have lived through.
"It is very much related," he elaborates, "to the moment they bought the property, the way they acquired it, who intervened in that, whether their children were born there, whether they fell in love in that space, whether that was their first home, whether it is even a family inheritance because they spent the first years of their lives there.".
He explains that these are memories that the person might treasure and that they probably even built little by little, investing their savings that were perhaps difficult for them to obtain at that time, "so for the person it is as if the enormous effort they made is slipping away.".
He advises sellers to remind homeowners, when listing a property, that sentimental value is not the same as economic value, and that the potential buyer will see their house as just another one, even though for them it represents their dream home. "No matter how grand they may think it is, they have to stick to what the market dictates.".
According to the House Link representative, these are usually older people who grew up there and therefore show resistance, and whose properties take longer to sell because of this situation.
Del Orbe suggests that real estate agents recognize the sentimental value of the property for the owners, empathize with them, reason with them, understand them, and help them to part with their property so they can say goodbye freely and without difficulties.
