Buying a home this year? You can learn a lot from these past homebuyer regrets.

If you could go back and give your younger, greener self some advice before you bought your first house, what it would be?

While we can’t go back in time to counsel ourselves on what mistakes to avoid when buying or selling a home, we can learn from others’ mistakes, and a new survey of homeowner regrets lets us do just that.

For example, an astonishing 53% of all homeowners polled expressed having at least one regret with their past home purchase, and many had multiple regrets.

Interestingly, that percentage has come down over time, most likely because getting information online about smart home purchases is much easier. There was also plenty of remorse to go around over buying before the real estate crash and the economic downturn in 2009. In fact, from 2003-2009, 63% of homeowners had regrets; and from 2010-2013, 55% of homeowners had regrets.

Here’s a list of the top regrets reported by homeowners:

34% wished they had chosen a larger home

11% would have chosen a smaller home

14% wanted to shop around more for a better mortgage

14% wish they had chosen a different real estate agent

12% said: “I wish I had borrowed less against my home.”

27% wanted to do more remodeling when they bought the home

22% wished they had more information about the home before they decided

18% would have put more money down for the down payment

16% wanted to be more financially secure before they purchased

15% wanted a neighborhood with a closer commute to work

14% wanted more information about the neighborhood before buying

12% didn’t understand the costs of homeownership thoroughly

9% would have chosen a neighborhood with less crime

7% would go back and choose a neighborhood with stronger schools

6% would have rented instead of bought altogether

5% would do less remodeling the home than they did

4% wished they had put less money down for the down payment

2% would have borrowed more against their home

The study found that homeowners were:

• 5x more likely to wish they had remodeled more than remodeled less
• 4x times more likely to wish they put a larger down payment, instead of less
• 3x more likely to wish they purchased a bigger home than a smaller home

Let’s be clear: these numbers only represent homeowner regrets, not renters. In fact, renters have their whole other list of regrets (we won’t cover them all here.) But I will note that the biggest difference between homeowners and renters is that 23% of all renters wished they had bought instead of rented, while just 3% of homeowners wished they had rented instead of bought.

It's also worth noting that there's a huge difference in regards to age and the percentages in assessing homeowner regrets. For example, 75% of millennial homeowners expressed at least once regret, while only 36% of homeowners age 55 or older had any similar misgivings about their home purchase.

66% of Gen Xers, or 35-44 years old, had regrets. Only 53% of Young Boomers ages 45-54 years old, had home buying regrets.  So the indicator is that there are some significant social or culture changes taking place that impact how people feel about homeownership.

 Also, the conditions of the market over time have an impact on buyer attitude. When you bought your home makes a significant difference in the instance of regrets, as well. In fact, if you moved into your current home:

• 2002 or earlier, 43% of homeowners have regrets
• 2003-2006, 63% of homeowners have regrets
• 2007-2009, 63% of homeowners have regrets
• 2010-2013, 55% of homeowners have regrets

So do you have any regrets with your previous experience buying a home? What would you differently? What information, tools or resources would have helped you avoid these later misgivings? I’d love to hear your experiences and opinions.

The most important part of my job as your Realtor is to help empower you to make the BEST possible decisions when you buy so you do not end up in those statistics.

Contact me if you have any questions about real estate or want to buy or sell a home – regret free!

10 Home buying mistakes to avoid at all costs.

These common home buying mistakes could cost you time, money, and sometimes the chance to buy your dream home.

Buying the oddball home.
Homes go up in value when other homes with similar layouts in the same neighborhood sell for more. These “comparables” or “comps” allow an appraiser to officially justify an increase in value, and therefore you’ll have more equity if you want to sell or refinance. So it’s important to buy a home that is uniform to most of the other homes n the neighborhood, or else the appraiser will have few or no sales to use as comps. So don’t purchase the only 2-bedroom home in a neighborhood full of 3 and 4-bedroom homes, and never buy the nicest house in a bad neighborhood.

Focusing on cosmetic issues.

Too often, home shoppers walk into a sizable home with a great floor plan in a wonderful neighborhood, but automatically cross it off their list because it has ugly carpet, bright paint colors, or the kitchen or bathrooms are outdated. Don’t be afraid of cosmetic fixes, and in fact, you may get a better deal and have less competition because of them. It’s easy and cheap to get the minor cosmetic fixes and updates done, but adding square footage, putting on a new roof, or the opportunity cost of buying in the wrong neighborhood etc. can get prohibitively expensive.

Becoming emotional.

Of course buying a home stirs up feelings up hope, elation, and even a little fear, but buyers need to remember that the most important thing is that they focus on making good business and long-term decisions.

Not having a strategy.

House hunting takes a lot of time, energy, and diligence, but without proactive planning you might just be spinning your wheels. So make sure to sit down with your Realtor and formulate a plan of attack so you end up finding the right house at the right price in the right neighborhood most efficiently.

Paralysis by analysis.

There are two ways we choose a home: with information or with emotion. Hopefully, you’ll use both when house hunting. But some times, people get so focused in on analyzing every single statistic, detail, and shred of data that it holds them back from making any offers or having a chance at buying any house, their ultimate goal! Fear of making offers, not looking at the market realistically, and expecting to get every single item on your list of needs and wants for a home are all symptoms of paralysis by analysis.

Overlooking important problems.

At some point in your house search, you’ll probably walk into a home and very quickly think, “This is it!” But no matter how much it “feels right” or you love the house, don’t ignore flaws or problems. Always get a home inspection and pay close attention to the big-ticket problem items like foundations, roofs, electrical, plumbing, etc. just because you love the house.

Not checking your credit report and getting preapproved.

When do you start the home buying process? Ideally, you should begin getting your finances in order 6-12 months ahead of time. In addition to saving for your down payment and carefully budgeting, you’ll also want to check your credit score and take action to boost it as much as possible. The difference between a good and a great credit score could make a huge difference in the loan you qualify for, your interest rate and payments, or even being an attractive homebuyer to sellers and getting your offers accepted.

About 2 to 3 months before you’re ready to get in a Realtor’s car and start shopping for homes, you’ll want to sit down with a mortgage professional to get preapproved for a loan. That will let you know exactly what you qualify for, what’s affordable for your budget, and therefore which homes in what price range you’ll be able to hunt for, saving everyone’s time - and probably money.

Picking your real estate agent and lender blindly.

You’ll need a great working relationship with your Realtor and mortgage lender, one that’s based on trust, market knowledge, and industry experience. It’s too big of a decision to just go with the first Realtor who approaches you or someone just because you know them. Contact some neighborhood experts, ask your friends and coworkers for great recommendations, read Yelp reviews, review their website and testimonials, and don’t be afraid to interview perspective agents and mortgage professionals.

Not hiring a home inspector.

Your home is probably the biggest investment you’ll make in your life; way too important to skip the few hundred dollars it takes to get a home inspection. A home inspection will disclose both cosmetic flaws and the big, important problems with the house that could cost you thousands of dollars down the road.

Not researching your neighborhood.

Remember the old home buying wisdom, “Location, location, location?” Well it still applies, as you’ll want to get to know the neighborhood very well. Are there train tracks nearby? Street noise? Crime problems? Good schools? Is it an easy commute to your work? Are values generally going up in that neighborhood? These are all questions you’ll want to ask with the help of your real estate agent.

10 Costly mistakes sellers make when pricing their homes.

1. Being too emotional.
We understand that your house is your home, where you raised you family and have a lot of your life invested. But selling your home should be viewed as a business transaction, not personal. By taking emotion out of the process as much as possible, you’ll make clear and rational decisions in your best interest. Ask any successful businessperson and he or she will tell you that emotion, fear, anger, ego, and personal feelings end up costing you money!

2. Pricing it unreasonably high.
Of course the ultimate goal is to get as much money for your home as possible when it sells, but that’s not going to happen if it never sells! There’s nothing wrong with starting with a listing price on the higher end of the spectrum but home owners need to realize that the higher the price, the fewer potential buyers you will get and the longer it usually takes to sell, if at all.

3. Ignoring the “price tag” test.
Let’s say you walk into your favorite store and pick something beautiful up off the shelf. What’s the first thing you do? Look for the price tag. If it’s too high, you cringe and put the item it right back on the shelf. If the price is significant but fair, you may look it over a while as you deliberate the price versus value. But if it’s on sale, you run to the register before someone else snatches it up! It’s the same thing with selling your home. When your priced way too high, people aren’t even going to look at it, or put it right back on the shelf. That means no offers. You want your price to be in that midrange where it’s fair for the value so you attract plenty of buyers but also get the most money possible.

4. Not sparking a bidding war.
Sellers often forget that one of the best strategies is to price your home aggressively to create a bidding war. Psychologically, our consumer behavior is dominated by a fear of loss even more so than the hope for gain. Put simply, that means people will move, act, bid, offer, hustle, risk, and do just about anything to ensure they don’t lose out on a great deal. By pricing your home a little lower on the range of what’s fair and reasonable, you create a massive sense of urgency with potential buyers. They know others are looking at this great deal and they need to put in the highest possible offer to get the home. You’ll probably get multiple offers, which can be leveraged against each other to bring the listing price up even more. Done correctly, a bidding war will get your home sold quickly and yield fantastic offers – often well over asking price!

5. Not listening to the market.
When we list a home, we do a comprehensive market analysis to present to the seller, showing the hard data exactly what similar homes in the same area are selling for, as well as what other competition is out there. We’ll make our best professional recommendation on the listing price, but the final decision is up to the homeowner. No matter where you set your initial listing price, pay attention to what the market is telling you – what the data says. Ignoring this and making decisions on emotion, fear, or hope for gain can be very counterproductive and cost you in the long run.

6. Not realizing price reductions can work to your advantage.
Price reductions are often viewed as nails-on-chalkboard negative by home sellers, but in fact they are a valuable strategy that ensures they yield the highest possible sales price. When listing your home, we should set an initial price aggressively but also map out a strategy and timetable of price reductions. If there is little interest or offers within a certain time frame, it’s time to reduce the price until we find the “sweet spot” of price vs. value! Once you price your home in that sweet spot, you’ll get plenty of quality offers at the best possible realistic price, and actually close on the transaction. Handled correctly, price reductions are a great tool to test the market incrementally, create momentum, and make sure every possible dollar lands in your pocket when it sells.

7. Forgetting to think from a buyer’s perspective.
Instead of thinking, “This is what I want for my home,” and “I want to sell at this price,” try to put yourself in a potential buyer’s situation. Imagine yourself hitting the home buying circuit on a busy Saturday and how you would view each listing. For instance, buyers usually start from the bottom of their price range and then work their way up, and as a home seller, realize they will be viewing a lot of other listings in the same price range as your home – your competition. Understanding the process from a consumer’s perspective will help you strategically set your price to get the highest and best offers from those busy buyers!

8. Pricing it based off the wrong comparables.
Homeowners are eternally optimistic when it comes to selling their home at the highest possible price, but often times they are using incomplete or irrelevant data to make those decisions. You’ll often hear people say, “My neighbor sold their house recently and it went for XYZ price, so mine should at least be worth that, if not more.” But crunching the numbers, we might find that their neighbor’s house was much larger or sold two years ago. When gauging your home’s value, look for comparable sold properties that were most similar to yours in square footage and amenities, close or in the same neighborhood, and those that sold most recently. That should give you the most accurate representation of what the fair and realistic listing price should be.

9. Forgetting that the home will need to appraise.
Remember that a buyer can make any offer they want, but they most often will need to get a mortgage loan from their partner in the home purchase – the bank. The bank, looking to ensure their investment, will require an appraisal. Appraisers are in the business of rationally and logically valuing homes based on every possible factor, and know the market better than just about anyone. So when you set your listing price, remember that what you want for it isn’t as important as what it will appraise for – which sets the ceiling on what any buyer can and will pay.

10. Trying to inflate the price based on upgrades.
You’ve probably spent many weekends fixing up your home, painting, installing new tile floors, and upgrading all of the light fixtures. While these improvements do enhance the value of your home, don’t expect to get back what you put in dollar-for-dollar. Some upgrades pay off big – like remodeling kitchens and bathrooms- but you can’t automatically tack on the price of all renovations and upgrades to your listing price and expect the seller to go for it. They will, however, make your home much more attractive to potential buyers when you list the home, and that will yield more offers at higher prices.