Home Buyer Regrets Are A Reality - 2

Here, we're concentrating on purchases where everything is completely fine with the house, townhome, condominium unit, or recreational property—legally and structurally. Even when all is well, buyers may have regrets about how a home functions for them and their family.

Buyers become owners once they move in and live in their new residence—an obvious fact, but a shift in perspective that many buyers seem to ignore. New owners will discover things about a home that they may not have realized during their "purchaser's viewing" many weeks or months before—especially in a cleverly-staged property:

• New owners may decide their home feels too small, too large, too expensive, too far from work…too something that becomes obvious after living there a while. Sometimes there are acceptable solutions; sometimes there are very pleasant surprises; sometimes there are only regrets.
• Alternatively, the home may lack something buyers assumed would be there or they had expected to be better. For instance, front hall or foyer closets are often overlooked during viewing. After move-in, all the family "stuff" that must go in that closet may not fit. The same can be true for functionality of the back entrance. In either case, sometimes adding storage or completing a small renovation solves the problem. Other times, buyers must live with regrets.

Examine several Buyer-regret surveys and you'll realize that home buyer reactions have not changed dramatically over time. Responses can vary with real estate and life experience and with economic conditions, but most are related to lack of knowledge and research.

Surveys isolate one aspect of one issue, so don't adopt results without further research of your own. For instance, how survey questions are asked matters. Regrets about a home and regrets about the process of buying a home are two different things. Survey questions about regrets were not counterbalanced with questions about the pleasant surprises a home held or whether the positives outweigh the negatives. Ask yourself how survey generalities are relevant to you and your specific situation as you evaluate results.