New Home Psychology: Why Do We Like What We Like?

For the month of May, we’re exploring a realm relatively unknown to us. We’re getting down to the facts, the science of new home buying. Basically, we’re curious as to why we like the things we like. Why do homebuyers like what they like? Why do sellers do the things they do? What are the scientific reasons behind it all? Better question - what are the psychological reasons?

We’ll be the first to say, we’re no psychology experts (although our President Sam Reiss has a graduate degree in psychology and was a practicing psychotherapist for 14 years, and was even an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto for two years). But what we are good at is research, and we’ll be hitting the books hard this month!

Have you ever wondered why people have shifted from preferring homes with individual closed off rooms to bright open-concept spaces? Open spaces and floor-to-ceiling windows just seem to make more sense to us, but it wasn’t always that way! Step into any low-rise home built in the 1970s and you’ll find a closed off foyer, and dining room and family room completely separate from the kitchen. And this is what people wanted. The kitchen was supposed to be closed off from the other living spaces. What triggered our minds to prefer less walls?

We all know everyone loves a good view...but WHY

That’s just one example. There are plenty of things that homebuyers do and like that aren’t completely understood, like why do people enter bidding wars? Why do some people actually want to live on the 80th storey of a tower? Why are detached homes SO desirable? What kind of mind prefers to live in a 300 square foot condo unit?

We just bombarded you with a ton of questions to which you likely don’t know the answers. Don’t worry, we hope to change that soon! Stay tuned to the Newinhomes.com Blog all month for a series of interesting features about why we all like the things we like!