That’s right, the very same neurological processes that occur when you buy strawberry jam are the very same ones that will tell you whether you are buying the right home or not. The problem is that you would never know this unless you become aware of how our brain processes this information and how it reveals the answers to you through an 畫畫導師 emotional response. The key is to develop the ability to read your emotions and you will end up buying the right home! When Consumer Reports hired the very best food technologist and sensory consultants, they had rated 44 jam varieties and published their results. When Timothy Wilson and Pittsburgh researcher Jonathan Schooler decided to replicate this taste test with “non-experts”, the “non-experts” virtually ranked the jams in a similar order that the experts ranked them. However, when the experiment was performed again, but the researchers asked the subjects “why? ” they are choosing what they are choosing, the jam rankings dramatically differed; the tasters in the second run of the experiment were forced to explain a decision which is usually impulsive, not rational. The “placebo effect” is to blame in all of these situations. When your brain has the expectation of something, it will work to reframe your choice to support your decision, no matter if it’s the wrong one.

There are two parts of your brain that can kick in when making a buying decision: The prefrontal cortex and the limbic system. The prefrontal cortex is what depends on logic and rational thought, while the limbic system is what controls all of your emotional responses, both conscious and unconscious. Keep in mind that this is a very general explanation for the purposes of understanding how we make buying decision.

The limbic system is what kicks in when an airline pilot makes a split second decision to avert a plane crash, or an FBI agent’s decision to shoot in a hostage situation, and even the decision to purchase strawberry jam. Essentially, all of these choices are difficult to explain through rational thought, yet all of them involve the use of our intuition. Our intuitive choices are patterns that our brains have developed based on past expectations and the results of those expectations. The more experiences you go through, the more your brain is able to register intuitive responses to those situations when they come up again. Each time an expectation turns out to be false, your brain adjusts its intuitive capabilities so that when this situation comes up again in the future, it is ready to trigger an emotional response. Ever have that feeling that something was not right? That’s your emotional brain telling you the answer based on a past experience. The challenge is to decode what exactly is “wrong” by understanding your emotions.

Your brain will tell you when you have found the right home, but it is all to easy to rationalize your purchase before giving your brain the tools and sensory inputs it needs to tell you what is right for you. Home builders know this when they make their model homes look great or when home stagers make a home look perfect! Our brains will fall in love with the look of a home, but then we’ll justify that look by rationalizing all the reasons that we should buy that home. Meanwhile, your emotional brain may be telling you that it is a far commute from and to work; that the builder’s reputation is not the best; that you will have to spend money after the closing on a fence, deck or shed, and the list can go on and on. I am not against buying a new home, but I wanted to use this as a classic example of how rationalizing a purchase can block out essential costs and factors when buying a new home. So how do you give your brain the right sensory inputs?

The best and most effective way to give your emotional brain the right inputs is to give it more experiences from which it can draw subconscious conclusions in order to help you decide should you choose to tap into those emotions. Go out and see as many homes as you can! Take your time in each home, developing a sense of likes and dislikes, without justifying each. Do this over several weeks so that you are not relying on “excitement” to make a decision. (Excitement is related to the chemical known as dopamine, which is covered in another article). I also urge you to make a list of “must have” and “absolutely not”. When you visit each house, become attuned to your list and make notes as they relate to your list. Intuitively, your emotional brain will develop a sense for what you want and trigger a positive feeling or a negative one as you visit more homes.