{"id":2918,"date":"2022-03-10T18:09:40","date_gmt":"2022-03-10T18:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/preprod.realtrends.com\/blog\/2022\/03\/10\/understanding-the-recent-rash-of-homebuyer-remorse\/"},"modified":"2025-03-13T02:40:47","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T02:40:47","slug":"understanding-the-recent-rash-of-homebuyer-remorse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/preprod.realtrends.com\/blog\/2022\/03\/10\/understanding-the-recent-rash-of-homebuyer-remorse\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding the recent rash of homebuyer remorse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Owning a home is one of the major milestones of adult life, and it’s still one of the safest and most lucrative ways to build wealth. So why do so many homeowners regret buying their home? Buyer\u2019s remorse may seem uncommon, but a new study by Clever Real Estate<\/a> reveals that it\u2019s far more widespread than anyone suspected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How many remorseful buyers are there?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The study found that 60% of home buyers feel at least some remorse<\/a>. Even more troubling is that 25% said they feel buyer\u2019s remorse often<\/em>. Buyers who bought during the pandemic feel buyer\u2019s remorse even more frequently. Among pandemic buyers, 39% reported that they feel buyer\u2019s remorse often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem isn\u2019t restricted to pandemic buyers, though. The level of buyer\u2019s remorse among all homeowners has risen dramatically. In Clever\u2019s 2019 study, 20% of homeowners reported that they often feel buyer\u2019s remorse. In 2022, that percentage more than doubled to 45%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of the problem may be that buyers had to rush into a purchase without learning the steps for buying a home<\/a>. Given their regret, some homeowners may put their home back on the market or sell to a company that buys houses for cash<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s causing discontent?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Among remorseful buyers, the most commonly cited reason (39%) for regret was expensive home maintenance costs. The average homeowner spends $3,000 a year on home maintenance \u2014 on top of mortgage payments, property taxes, homeowner\u2019s insurance and life insurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One-third of all homeowners spent $5,000 on home maintenance in 2021. The study found that millennials (42%) were almost three times more likely than boomers (15%) to spend more than that amount on maintenance. Reasons for the disparity are unclear, but in a tight market, millennials are more willing<\/a> to find and buy distressed properties that need a lot more work or invest in wholesale real estate<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The surprisingly high costs of homeownership<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Home maintenance is just the tip of the iceberg. More than half (52%) of homeowners say the overall cost of owning a home took them by surprise. Average homeowners spend more than $15,000 a year on their homes, according to the Clever study. They spend:<\/p>\n\n\n\n