These Are The Biggest Home Regrets People Have

Monica Gray - September 20, 2023

Photo: The Guardian

Whether you’re a novice homebuyer or are on your way to buying your third home, chances are, you’ll experience feelings of regret at some point during the process. If you regret your DIY home improvements, renovations, or simply buying a home that was more work than you bargained for, you’re not alone. These Reddit users share their personal experiences with regret during the home-buying and renovating process.

Try To Meet The Neighbors First…

This Reddit user tells us one of their biggest home regrets was not meeting their neighbors before they closed the deal on their home. They admitted, “There was once a hazmat team on my front lawn because the neighbor actually gassed herself with a bug bomb by accident. This was one of many times where trucks with flashing lights showed up including the axe throwing incident.” Your neighbors will make or break your home experience, so choose wisely! After buying their home, they also realized they couldn’t afford to heat or cool it, thanks to the expenses that came along with it. You can never be too prepared when buying a home, so it’s important to make sure all of your bases are covered (Reddit).

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Don’t Fully Trust The Seller

This Reddit user regret includes trusting the seller too much. They suggested that if the seller says the basement never leaks, you shouldn’t believe them. Instead, you ask them where it leaks. They also suggest cleaning the house by professionals before you move in, otherwise you’ll spend weeks cleaning the house. It’s a huge waste of time that could have been spent doing other useful things (Reddit).

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Check For Noise Makers

Make sure your home isn’t located too close to an airport, train station, or highway, otherwise you can say goodbye to a good night’s sleep. When this Reddit user bought their home, the seller told them a waterpark was being built across the street, when it was, in fact, a wastewater treatment facility. They suggest buying a house on a cul-de-sac or side street, to reduce the amount of noise you’ll have to listen to (Reddit).

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Think About The Future

This Reddit user didn’t think about having kids one day, which is how they ended up with home regrets. They bought a house on top of a hill, without realizing how frustrating it would be to teach kids how to ride a bike, skate, or play ball. It also means they can’t have a kiddie pool (Reddit).

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Get The Best Inspector You Can Get

If you don’t get the best inspector you can get, you’re risking a lot. That could mean the difference between thousands of dollars. If your inspector isn’t as thorough as they should be, they might gloss over a lot of issues that should have been caught. This Reddit user experienced just that, and it cost them a lot of time and money (Reddit).

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Check Your Wiring

If you don’t check all the wiring in your home, you’re making a huge risk with buying something that’s not updated properly. This Reddit user dealt with just that. They trusted the seller and inspector, but it turns out they were wrong. When they got an electrician, they found out the house wasn’t grounded. Now, he’s paying an electrician at $75/hour. Because of this, they feel stuck and don’t trust anyone with their home. Double and triple check before buying a home (Reddit).

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Buyer’s Remorse

This Reddit user bought a home for $230k. They trusted the inspector, who said the house was good to go, but after moving in, they found a ton of things wrong with it. The front door doesn’t close properly, the dryer doesn’t turn on, and no one can figure out the issues. There’s also a gap near their front door they have to fix. Basically, they suggest thoroughly checking every single thing you can before even considering buying the home. Otherwise, you’ll end up with more work than you bargained for (Reddit).

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Beware Of Your Yard

Unless you’re someone looking to spend hours landscaping your yard or fixing the garden, this Reddit user suggests not buying a house with a huge yard. Looking at it might feel appealing, but once you own that house, all of that hard work is now yours. As they said, “a dozen trees, countless bushes, flowers and planters and retaining walls and everything is just too much. I wish I had bought a house that was xeriscaped.” If this resonates with you, think about the yard before you act (Reddit).

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Avoid Putting Up Covings

While a DIY project might seem appealing at first, do your research beforehand. Even though you might like how it looks, try and avoid putting up a coving in your home. This Reddit user learned the hard way, and it was more effort than what it was worth. After going through the mitre cuts, lifting them, gluing, painting, and filling in gaps, they found out it didn’t match the ceiling and one of them even fell down. They ended up taking it down, in the end (Reddit).

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Don’t Do A DIY Project While On A Budget

It might sound appealing, but doing a DIY project on a tight budget is never worth it. It’s also better to spend that extra bit of cash to make sure you’re getting the best results you can get. This Reddit user put in a 3m x 3m conservatory, only to find it hot in the summer and cold in the winter. The result was somewhat successful, but according to them, they “Wish we’d built the walls higher & reduced the amount of glass, plus gone for more insulated roof type at the time, but budget was already tight.” These project might be permanent, so do them wisely (Reddit).

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Measure Your Furniture

Make sure you measure once, twice, and three times before buying a piece of furniture. You never know if that tight corner will fit that sharp part of a couch unless you thoroughly measure it. This Reddit user bought a new couch for their flat, and ended up moving into his grandmother’s home a few months later. He brought the couch with him, only to learn it barely fit in the room. He and his dad ended up cutting a corner of the sofa off to squeeze it into the room, which looks cramped and tight (Reddit).

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Hire Someone Else

Tackling a project yourself might seem like a good idea at first, until you’re left with the harsh reality. If you really want to fix your garden, paint a room, or repair something, this Reddit user suggests hiring someone else to do it. They said, “Otherwise it just keeps looking worse. Once the thing is done, your home will look great again, you’ll feel more pride in your home, and you’ll ask yourself why you didn’t do that sooner.” It’ll give you back precious time you can use for other projects around your house (Reddit).

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Random Patches Of Paint

This Reddit user learned about DIY projects and paint the hard way. After moving into their new home, the movement of furniture left paint marks on the walls. This is all thanks to the previous owners, who left paint tins everywhere. They tried to fix it themselves, only to find the color was a different shade to the original. Be careful with trying to fix something yourself, and always take your time with it (Reddit).

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Don’t Test Your Paint

Unless you’re really trying to paint your home, don’t use paint testers in random patches like these Reddit users did. After going through different rounds of paint testers, they said, “We’ve still never painted the hall and there’s just stupid squares of different colors painted at random intervals, and now because of all the patches we’re probably going to have to paint the whole thing white before we paint in whatever color we choose.” They created way more work than they should have done (Reddit).

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Don’t Put Up Your Own Shelves

Unless you really know what you’re doing, try not to put up shelves or repair things in your home yourself, otherwise you might regret it. After this Reddit user moved into their new house, they tried to put a shelf up above the mirror in the bathroom. They used glass aftershave, which made the glass slip off and smash the sink. Then, it smashed the toilet. They had to replace the toilet and the sink, and then put up another shelf (Reddit).

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Don’t Install Your Own Kitchen

Unless you’re a professional kitchen installer, this isn’t a DIY project. Building a new kitchen takes time, effort, skill, and knowledge that’s not available to your average homeowner. If you want a new kitchen, hire a team of people to do it. Try not to do what this Reddit user did and install your own kitchen, otherwise you’ll have a kitchen full of regrets (Reddit).

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Tiles Over Gravel

Listen to this home owner and use tiles in your back garden instead of gravel. Gravel will become full of weeds. This person didn’t listen to this important advice, purchased gravel, and ended up with a garden full of weeds (Reddit).

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Modernize Your Kitchen And Bathroom

Don’t say no to a home that has a modern bathroom, but no bathtub, as this Reddit user learned. They wanted a home with a bath, and ended up with a house with a bathroom that was 20 years old. It had a lot of gaps, so the first thing they did was replace the bathroom. They ended up with a bathroom without a bath. If they’d ignored that in the first place, they would have saved tons of money (Reddit).

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Don’t Be A Pushover

As this Reddit user learned, being a pushover never ends well. They listened to their now ex boyfriend and purchased cheaper, more inexpensive shelves to build their living room bookcase. That didn’t end well, since the wood kept splintering and the shelves aren’t the same length. As they put it, they can see the half inch width difference and will have to start over again with the shelves (Reddit).

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The Hidden Crack

Before trying to strip wallpaper yourself, consider hiring a professional team to come in and do it for you. As this person learned, when they ripped the wallpaper off of their wall, the wall plaster came with it and revealed a crack you could see through to the outside with. They now wish they’d left the wallpaper on and will have to fix it up (Reddit).

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Kitchen Regrets

This home owner wanted to replace the tiles on their kitchen floor. They managed to pick ones that were difficult to lay down. Once they got it to lay down, it started looking dirty and now, it’s difficult to clean. They’re left with a kitchen with dirty vinyl flooring and a lot of regrets (Reddit).

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Dishonest Sellers

These home owners learned the hard way. You need to buy from sellers you trust. They purchased a home from dishonest sellers, who left them with big repairs they didn’t tell them they needed. This Reddit user said, “Thankfully we bought below our max budget and had plenty of cash reserve, so financially we were okay but the stress of that first year was enormous. We also are in a state that is currently doing some crazy things politically and it makes me wonder if I even want to stay here long term. I think if we were renting, it would be a no brainer to leave, but with the house, I’m finding it’s more of an anchor and difficult to just get up and go.” Make sure all your bases are covered before you buy a home. This home owner was left with a love hate relationship with their home, which they now have to deal with (Reddit).

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Be Prepared For Sudden Repairs

Owning a home comes with a lot of responsibility, and you’ll need to have savings for home repairs. As this Reddit user shared, there are times they have to drop over $2,000 for sudden repairs. At the very least, you can rexognize the progress you’ll make, which might hope with those times of regret and feeling overwhelmed with owning a home (Reddit).

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General Maintenance Might Be Your Biggest Regret

You can’t have a home without also taking on the responsibilities of repairs. Homes are costly, even after you purchase them, so you certainly need a bunch of money saved to prepare for these repairs. As this Reddit user puts it, “Even for a home in relatively decent shape, there’s always something. A new roof in a few months, new gutters, hot water heater to be replace this year, several trees need to be cut down, summer and winter furnace and AC tune ups, random stuff for the yard, plumbing maintenance, the list goes on… And this is all aside from the stuff you take care of on your own.” If that doesn’t scare you, then you might be ready to own a home (Reddit).

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First Years Regret

It’s normal to feel a bit of apprehension or anxiety after buying your first home. Whether it’s because of the cost, or the work that needs to be done, you might wish for easier times when you were only renting. As this Reddit user put it, “It’s such a huge purchase that I think it’s normal to feel buyers remorse even if it’s a good decision. Buying is typically a long term decision. If you need flexibility, a house isn’t for you.” Keep that in mind before putting down money for a home (Reddit).

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Talk To Your Neighbors

Don’t buy a home without knowing your neighbors. That’s like walking into a minefield and not knowing where you should step. This Reddit user admits their neighbor married a drug user who constantly makes poor choices in life. Even though the situations gotten a bit better, they still have to deal with the repercussions of not knowing their neighbors as well as they should have (Reddit).

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First Home Regrets

This home owner regretted purchasing their first home. They were in a bad relationship and living in a place they didn’t fit in. Their partner wasn’t supportive in the relationship, and eventually, they evicted their partner. To fix the problem, they took all of their vacation days to renovate their home, sold it, and left. At the very least, they fixed their situation and ended up with a clean slate (Reddit).

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Don’t Settle

With anything in life, it’s important not to settle, and that includes your home. This home owner regretted settling for a smaller house that didn’t have enough bedrooms to suit their needs. Not only that, but the school district was less than par. They ended up buying a cheaper home instead of investing in one that would give them more benefits in the long run. It’s important to never settle, especially when it comes to something as important as the structure of a home and location (Reddit).

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In Need Of Repairs

Almost every home in the world will need some sort of repairs, and some homes will need more than others. This Reddit user said they got it right the second time, when they bought their home brand new. They found nothing really wrong after inspection, and the only thing they have to deal with now is friends and family regretting they never bought a home (Reddit).

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The American Dream?

No matter what they might say, owning a home is stressful. This is thanks to everything involved with fixing up a home and inflation. To deal with money stress, this Reddit user said, “We have limited our spending to necessities, but it doesn’t matter. We are dipping into what little savings we have just to get by. I am looking at taking a second job because I cannot handle the fear. What happens if one of us loses our job or if we have a medical emergency? I genuinely feel like we will never financially recover from purchasing our home, let alone another trip to the grocery store.” Before you buy, make sure all expenses are covered and you have enough saved for those surprise additional costs (Reddit).

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