Buyer - Seller Resemblance

More Than Just a Coincidence?

The resemblance between Buyers and Sellers first struck me a few years ago at an Inspection.

I arrived near the end to get the wrap-up, and walked up to my client and his Inspector chatting on the front lawn.

Except that when my client turned around, it turned out to be the Seller! (He'd come home to fetch something from the house, and was explaining something to the Inspector.)

Same age, height, body type, hair color, attire -- you name it.

How unusual is that?

Actually, not very -- especially if you make an "apples to apples" comparison (i.e., compare the Seller's profile when they bought, vs. the Buyer's now).

Demographics ("Birds of a Feather . . .")

If you think about it, the resemblance makes sense.

The same home and neighborhood attributes that originally attracted the Sellers undoubtedly also appealed to the Buyers.

So, family homes with four bedrooms up and big yards tend to attract . . . growing families with a couple kids.

Maintenance-free downtown Condo's appeal to . . . empty nesters close to retirement age.

Factor in socioeconomics (middle class, upper, etc); life stage; and nearby amenities (restaurants, parks, etc.), and sometimes the self-selection principle practically screams at you.

Something in the Water??

Perhaps the most uncanny example of the foregoing involved . . . me.

My wife and I bought a 1927 Fulton Tudor in 2000 from a family with two boys. One year later, we had our second.

We subsequently learned that all but one of the home's owners, spanning more than 70 years, were families with two boys.

Five years later, after we'd had our third (a daughter -- maybe that disqualified us?), it was time to find a bigger home.

At the closing, I shared with the Buyer the home's unusual, "two boy" history.

He laughed, and rather emphatically said that he and his wife -- both in their early '40's -- were quite happy having just one (then 6 year-old) son.

One year later, a former neighbor informed us that the Buyers unexpectedly had a second child.

A son.