Home Buyers’ Regrets

Hindsight is a great thing – especially when someone with buying experience can tell you what they wish they had known. Here's the beginning of a list of regrets from recent home buyers:

1. I should have asked the seller to do more repairs before closing.
2. I should have scoped out the neighborhood at different times of day; the neighborhood gets a little dicey at night.
3. I wish I had 20 percent to put down on my home so I wasn’t saddled with mortgage insurance now.
4. I wish I’d thought to have the sewer line tested—it’s 90 years old and needs to be replaced.
5. I should have bought the cheaper house with good "bones” in the nicer neighborhood and done a little cosmetic fixing.
6. I should have done a "practice” commute — that road to work really backs up in morning rush hour.
7. I wish I had researched the cost of remodeling before I bought my fixer-upper.
8. I should have measured! I am never going to get that queen-sized bed up that narrow staircase.
9. I wish I hadn’t agreed to an escalator clause— now my house is worth less than what I paid for it.
10. I wish I owned stock in Home Depot.

Related links: Coming Up With a Down Payment; Can You Afford to Buy? First-time Home Buyers vs. Old Hands