Nearly 1 in 5 Homeowners Regret Buying A House
Buying a home can be a sense of pride for many people. Finally owning and not renting is a wonderful accomplishment. However, it comes with its own set of chores and challenges that some people don’t anticipate, and that can be overwhelming to new buyers. HomeAdvisor recently conducted a survey of 1,000 people to find out more on how they feel about home maintenance along with cleaning and other upkeep. One shocking statistic they discovered was that 1 in 5 homeowners regret buying a house.
According to Home Advisor some findings include:
- Nearly 1 in 5 homeowners regrets buying a house because it is too much work to maintain
- Roughly half of homeowners underestimate how much time, money, and effort is needed for home maintenance tasks
- Over half of our survey respondents admit to neglecting household tasks and have suffered consequences as a result, with the most common consequences including additional costs to fix an issue (46.2%), water damage (45.7%), and surface damage (36.1%)
- 74% of homeowners would prefer to delegate home maintenance tasks to a professional – Gen Xers are most likely to delegate home maintenance tasks
- The top maintenance tasks people delegate to others:
- Cleaning gutters (37.3%)
- Fixing leaky pipes (34.5%)
- Chimney maintenance (31.3%)
- Lawn care (30.3%)
- Painting home’s exterior (25%)
Around 50% of those surveyed reported that underestimated the time, money, and effort required for home maintenance tasks. That being said there was a large portion that did know what they were getting themselves into. Gen Xers were the most likely to underestimate the time involved while Millenials who are buying the most houses were more prepared for the task.
How much should you budget? According to HomeAdvisor “When it comes to maintenance, a good rule to follow is that your annual bill will be about 1% of your purchase price. So, a $500,000 home will run about $5,000 for yearly maintenance, for example.”
Do you know any homeowners who regret buying a house?
Read the full study here
