Clever Real Estate: Almost Three-Quarters of First-Time Buyers Have Regrets

(Image courtesy of MART PRODUCTION/pexels.com)

Clever Real Estate, St. Louis, released a new survey finding that nearly three-quarters (or 73%) of first-time buyers have regrets about their home purchase.

That tracks ahead of all buyers, with 65% reporting regrets.

Forty-six percent of all buyers, and 58% of first-time buyers, say purchasing a home was more stressful than expected.

As for why buyers aren’t happy, 20% pointed to regrets over locking in a high interest rate and 13% said they wish they hadn’t overspent on their home. About a quarter of recent buyers have felt financially in over their heads–when looking just at first-time buyers, that number jumps to 51%.

One in four (or 23%) of recent buyers say their finances have worsened since buying their home; 19% say they have improved. Two in five say they’ve had to make lifestyle changes to make ends meet, 21% have taken on more debt and 16% have struggled to make mortgage payments on time.

Other regrets include buyers wishing they were more prepared for unexpected problems with their home–30% think the seller was not upfront about aspects of their home and 44% say they later found out issues after moving that hadn’t been disclosed. Twelve percent regret that their inspection missed problems.

Despite these hesitations, buyers don’t think market conditions will improve anytime soon–overall 87% are happy they purchased their home when they did.

However, 28% say the buying process was more difficult than they anticipated (with 36% of first-time buyers saying so).

Almost all–94% say they would change something about their home-buying experience. Twenty percent of those respondents say they would want to be more patient and 17% pointed to wanting to save money.