Half of homebuyers experience remorse. Here’s how to help avoid regrets about your new home
Jul 2, 2024, 10:58 PM | Updated: Jul 3, 2024, 7:06 am
SALT LAKE CITY — The odds are nearly one-out-of-two that a homebuyer will have at least one regret about their purchase.
So says a new study Bankrate shared with the KSL Investigators.
“The question ultimately about a regret is if I knew back when what I know right now, would I be better armed with information?” said Mark Hamrick, a senior economic analyst at Bankrate. “The answer is yes.”
Forty percent of regretful homebuyers told Bankrate their biggest regret is the hidden costs being more expensive than they bargained for. Costs like the upkeep of your property and fixing appliances along with the ever-rising costs of property taxes, insurance and utilities.
At 18%, the next biggest regret is buying a house that is too small, compared to the 10% who said their big regret was that the house was too big. Fifteen percent regretted moving into their new neighborhood and 14% said their chief regret was they paid too much for their home. Along with that, 13% said too high of a mortgage payment topped their list of regrets.
The odds are nearly one-out-of-two that a homebuyer will have at least one regret about their purchase, according to a study by Bankrate. (KSL TV)
Hamrick says you can avoid many of those regrets by sticking to your budget. Don’t go for a house you absolutely love, but it’s tens of thousands of dollars over budget. Instead, he says shoot for a home between the top and bottom ends of what you can afford.
“Somewhere in the middle that gives you some flexibility with your finances so that you’re not among those people have this regret about the mortgage payment being too high or that those maintenance costs are higher than what we expected,” Hamrick said.
Another big regret: 10% of homebuyers told Bankrate they regret they didn’t get the best mortgage rate. Hamrick says this is something we can control.
“We can shop around for the best mortgage rate,” he said. “We can try to optimize our credit scores, so we qualify for a lower rate of interest.”
Bankrate also asked those homebuyers if they had to do it all over again, would they? The vast majority – 69% – said yes, despite their regrets they would.
