Homebuyers Reveal Their 7 Biggest Regrets

You should always take your time when purchasing a house. Don’t get caught in the trap of thinking you’re going to miss out. Look at a ton of houses, even before you’re ready to sign on the dotted line. Know in advance exactly what you want and then go house hunting.

If you’re desperate to get out of the house you’re currently in, it’s even more important to take your time. As Aimee Agresti told Relator.com, “We actually made an offer on a house we didn’t love just because we were so desperate to get out of our place. We were definitely not in the best state of mind to be making huge life-changing decisions.”

You may think that just because you don’t have kids, you don’t need to factor schools into your search criteria. Even if you plan to move again when children come along, circumstances might not allow for it. Take the advice of Kim Maggio who, along with her husband, bought a house without considering schools.

“We went into our purchase thinking it was our five-year home,” she explained to Realtor.com. But they ended up staying and paying for their kids to go to private school. “I regret buying for the short term and not thinking about resale value-and the schools.”

Don’t agree to everything the seller wants just because you really want the property.

Michelle Downs told Realtor.com that she and her husband bought a house that came with a cat, even though she was severely allergic to cats. Needless to say, it didn’t work out very well, and the cat had to go. Better to say no at the beginning, then add a bunch of needless stress (and sneezing) to your life.

We’re conditioned to super-size everything. For some reason, we think bigger is always better. Not so. Take the case of Kim King. She and her husband built a 6,000 sq. ft. home thinking they were going to have a bunch of kids. Instead, they had one.

“And that left us rolling around this huge house with one small child and a tiny dog,” she explained to Realtor.com. “We certainly would not have built that size of home if we had a crystal ball and could have known what the future held.”

You find the house you love, but notice there are some things that aren’t quite up to spec. Don’t make the mistake of overlooking what might appear to be a small thing. It could come back to haunt you.

Liz Meehen told Realtor.com that she regrets not looking more closely at her home before she bought it. “It is clear now, seven years later, that the seller did a quick, cheap refinish of the kitchen cabinets to sell the house, because he used low-quality laminate cabinet covers that are now peeling!”

Her mistake will cost about $7,000. Had she had the cabinets done at the time of purchase, she could have rolled the cost into the mortgage.

Don’t underestimate the number of bedrooms you think you’ll need. If you’re planning to have the kids bunk up in one room, realize that at some point they’re going need their own space. And if that’s not possible, be prepared for the consequences (and to play referee a lot).

You might think that a house out in the middle of nowhere (or in a sub-division with few services) will be just fine. But if like Simone Cote, you’re used to city life where you can walk everywhere, you might be in for a surprise.

“We got the school district and the proximity to town that we wanted,” Cote explained to Realtor.com. “But coming from a city, where walkability was part of daily life, moving to a house in the suburbs where we couldn’t walk outside safely was a mistake. The isolation we felt really impacts our experience in the community and our ability to be part of the town.”