Buying A New House Can Increase One’s Stress Level

Emotional stress is an issue that is consistently on the rise, due to a multitude of factors. In fact, stress levels have been steadily increasing for the last few decades, if not longer.

There are many things which can cause stress in people, too many to list in a regular article, and they’re as varied as they come.

In this article, we’ll go over some of the most common causes of stress, how and why buying a new house can increase one’s stress level.

Most Common Causes Of Stress

Before we move on to explaining how stress can be caused by buying a new house, we will first need to understand some of the most common causes of stress. This is required in order to later make the connection about how some of these causes may play a role in increased stress levels when buying a new house.

One of the most common causes of stress are financial issues, or just general worry regarding finances. Things such as worrying about being able to afford something you want or need, an overdue electricity bill that you forgot about, a hefty speeding ticket, an upcoming audit, and more, can all contribute to an increase in stress levels.

Another very common cause of stress is health anxiety. Particularly, fear of having or developing a severe illness is a very common factor behind increased stress levels, especially when you can’t shake off the thoughts.

However, health anxiety can take many different forms, such as making you worry about your blood pressure, catching a cold, and even worsening mental health (which, ironically, becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy due to stress).

It is worth noting that stress does have an impact, a quite severe one, on your overall health. It can lead to increased risks of many illnesses, some of which very serious, can lead to developing harmful addictions to things like nicotine as an unhealthy coping mechanism, and more.

Changes in your life are another usual factor contributing to higher stress levels. This is because familiarity is calming, and a changed routine, or otherwise environment or lifestyle, leads to a lack of familiarity, which in turn may cause stress.

The sort of changes that can contribute to an increase in overall stress levels include, but are not limited to, a change of scenery, losing contact with old social contacts, a change in career, and more.

Work pressure is also one of the most common causes of stress. This does not necessarily mean that only employed or paid work causes stress, in fact, quite the contrary.

Things such as household chores, like doing the dishes, and personal projects, like a fiction book you may be writing, can all also lead to an increase in stress levels, on account of the associated pressure you put on yourself to see the task through with.

How/Why Buying A New House Can Increase One’s Stress Level

Now that we’ve covered some of the most common causes behind increasing stress levels, it’s time to see how they play into the process of buying a new house, and how they can make that process stressful.

First off, let’s look at the connection of financial-related stress through the lens of being in the process of purchasing a new home. In most places, a house, and real estate in general, isn’t cheap. It’s quite expensive, in fact.

You could end up thinking about whether or not you picked the right house to buy, if the price you settled on with the seller is fair, if you could’ve gotten a better deal, if the land value will remain the same, if renovations will be required and how much they might cost, how you’ll pay off the mortgage, etc..

All of these constant thoughts will definitely lead to an increase in stress levels, as these are all very real and valid concerns to have.

Let’s now examine the link between health anxiety stress and the process of buying a new home. To give an example, let’s imagine that the house you are in the process of buying has a black mold problem, or a rat problem.

Both of these things can cause you (fully justified) concerns regarding your health if you are to live there. This worrying about how your health will fare in this new home will lead to an increase in stress levels.

Increased stress levels may further hinder your body’s ability to protect itself from infection, and ailments in general, which can be dangerous.

Addressing the link between changes-related stress and buying a new house tends to be quite straightforward, and easy to understand: Since you are moving, your environment changes. You are now going to live in a new home, in a different location.

More often than not, this also comes with a change of employer, or at least a change of place of work. Alongside that, social circles may also change.

This loss of familiarity can lead to a significantly raised stress level.

Lastly, let’s examine the connection between work pressure stress and buying a new house. Buying a new house and moving into it is, after all, involving a lot of work.

There’s lots of paperwork to do, before you even own the home. Then, there’s the whole process of moving, and bringing whatever you want to bring with you from your old residence, then organizing it inside your new one. Additionally, depending on the local area’s rules, you may need to fill out even more paperwork, and even renovate.

All of this unpaid work can put quite a bit of pressure on you, which is certainly stress-inducing.

Conclusion

For all of the reasons listed above, and some more that might’ve been left unvoiced, the process of buying a new house can increase one’s stress level, and quite dramatically so.

Buying a new house is a process that, as said earlier, brings a number of the most common causes of stress along with it, and while a rewarding experience, it can also work as a double-edged sword through the stress it may cause you.

All in all, it is important to remember to take things slow, and avoid pressuring or rushing yourself into anything, in order to save yourself the trouble that an increase in stress levels brings with it.

I wish you a good time home-hunting, and a stress-free time in doing so, too.