How to Avoid Buyer’s Remorse When Buying YourHome

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What is Home Buyer’s Remorse?

We’ve all bought something that seemed like a good idea at the time. Take it home and realize…”OMGthat looked soooo different in the store.” Department stores make it easy to take most purchases back fora refund, exchange or a store credit.

Things purchased from clearance sales are more difficult. Their receipt is often marked

All sales final!!!

When you shop the bargain basement prices, you act quick before another shopper can grab an item out ofyour hands. You’re thrilled at the bargain price for the “Louis Chanel Prada” item and can’t wait to tell yourfriends about it.

When you get home, you pull your new prize out of the bag. In the natural lighting of your home, it isn’tquite what you thought you were getting. It’s not the shade of emerald green you saw in the store’slighting. In fact, it looks closer to the “slime green” of the Kid’s Choice Slime Awards. And it definitely isn’tyour color. Yes, you have buyer’s remorse. ”All Sales are Final” is clearly marked on the receipt yousigned. You can either have the item dyed, learn to live with it or give it away.

Buyer’s Remorse over a quickly made purchase is one thing. Buyer’s remorse over the home you’ve justpaid a small fortune for is a different story.

Tips To Avoid Home Buyer’s Remorse

Location, Location, Location. Start by determining which areas work best for your lifestyle. Will yourkids be happy in the nearby schools? How much time will you spend driving to work everyday? What sortof amenities are nearby? Parks for your morning jog? Shopping? Access to outdoor areas? Getting toknow the neighborhoods will help you find an area that will be conducive to your lifestyle.

If you don’t have to worry about kids in school or commuting to work, consider your lifestyle. We recentlylisted and sold a home that had only been purchased last year. The sellers had bought the newconstruction home sight unseen. The builder’s sales agent who helped them never told them about thearea. Yes, it is a nice, developing area but it’s still early in the “developing” process. The sellers wereused to an urban environment. They were unhappy having to drive 10-15 minutes to the nearestsupermarket or to a nice restaurant. One of them doesn’t like to drive and wanted to be within walkingdistance of a gym with a pool that’s heated year round.

While listing their home, we started showing them neighborhoods. My partner helped them find a greathome that they loved. Their new home is in a guard-gated, golf course community. Shopping, restaurantsand parks are just outside the gates. There’s a 24 hour fitness that has the year round heated pool theywanted. We showed them a lot of areas, and found the one that met most if not all their needs.

Set Your Budget. One of the worst types of buyer’s remorse is whensomeone commits to a home that leaves them “house poor”. Themortgage payment is only part of the cost of owning a home. Monthlyutilities, taxes, insurance and the occasional home maintenanceexpenses can add up. It’s easy to find yourself spending more to ownyour home than you expected. Buyers can find themselves in aposition where they can’t afford the little extras they used to enjoy.

Some buyers are in a position to buy any home they choose but mostof us aren’t so lucky. Before you start looking for a home, talk with agood lender. You should get a pre-approval letter rather than pre-qualification letter. The difference is explained in “Mortgage Pre-Approval vs Pre-Qualification Letter” by Bill Gassett.

When you’ve determined how much mortgage you can obtain, ask thelender to give you a net sheet. It should include how much moneyyou’ll need to put down on the home. An estimate of closing costssuch as Title Insurance, Appraisal, Inspection, etc. Do you haveenough cash available to comfortably cover your down payment and the closing costs? If not, you mayhave to wait until you’ve saved a bit more or look at a lower priced home.

The lender should also give you an estimate for your monthly Principal and Interest (PITI). That’s only partof the cost of owning a home. You will have property taxes, insurance and utilities. You may have amonthly payment to the HOA. You should budget for maintenance items like landscaping. An older homemay need more expensive repairs. Roofs, HVAC systems, hot water heaters and appliances may need tobe replaced.

Are you able to cover all those costs? Homeownership can be rewarding but it should be entered intoresponsibly. Consider how much you will be spending on your mortgage and all those other householdexpenses. Do you have enough to cover all those expenses and still enjoy going to the movies and dinnerout with the family? As Mark Brian explains, “Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean you Should”.

Now that you know how much home you can afford, what does it buy? An easy way to explore this isto sit down with your Realtor. Have them pull up the MLS. They should select the neighborhood you’vepicked then enter in the options you select. Is your dream home four bedrooms, four baths, built after2005, at least 2500 sf, single story, granite counters and a pool? How many homes meet your criteria?

Now enter your maximum price. How many are left? If there are only a few, you may have to adjust someof your preferences. Do you need four bedrooms and four baths? Pools are nice but they increase theprice. How many options do you have if you consider older homes? Is there a nearby area that’s moreaffordable? Can you consider 3 bedrooms and 3 baths instead of four?

If your budget doesn’t allow you to have all things you dream of in your home, you will have tocompromise. It’s important that you consider which items are most important. If having a pool is moreimportant than having a newer home, you may be able to find an older home that meets your needs. Ifhaving a new home is more important, then buy one that has room to add a pool when you can afford it.

Don’t skimp on the essentials! While you don’t want to end up being“house poor”, you also don’t want to be so stingy that you regret it. Ahome is a long term investment. You can always change counter tops,plumbing fixtures, appliances and paint colors. You can’t make a twostory into a single story. You can’t fit a pool into a 3000 sf lot. Youcan’t easily move a house that backs up to a noisy street to a quieterlot.

One of the most common reasons for buyer’s remorse is the “GreedMonster“. As Andrew Fortune says, the Greed Monster can result inbuyers looking for a “completely unrealistic deal”. We’ve seenmany buyers who are so determined to get the best possible deal thatthey miss out on some great ones. Holding out for the best possiblebargain can result in paying more for your home if prices continue torise. We’ve seen buyers lose their dream home for as little as $5000when another buyer was willing to offer more. Sad but not unusual ifyou let greed and fear consume your thought process.

Another mistake we see buyers make is one I made when I moved to Las Vegas. The first homes myRealtor showed me were too big and boxy for my taste. I wasn’t sure if I was going to like living in LasVegas and didn’t want to spend too much in case I decided to leave after a couple of years. So weswitched to looking at town homes. I found a charming one in a great location, in a nice little gatedcommunity only a block from the Whole Foods Market that was opening soon.

I enjoyed living in Queensridge and being in the heart of Summerlin’s amenities. But the town home wasa bit small. The baby grand piano and my antique desk barely fit. Then I adopted a couple of dogs and a“hubby”. Closets were full and the yard was small. I made a nice profit when I sold the town home. Inhindsight, I should have looked for the single story home with a pool and a nice yard from the beginning. Would have saved the expense and hassle of moving.

The Failure to Buy Remorse

This is the biggest type of buyer’s remorse we’re seeing. It’s just likethe wide angle camera lens I didn’t buy earlier this year. It was onsale but I wasn’t sure I really needed it and hoped it would getdiscounted more in the future. Too bad, so sad. Now I have to paymore for it. We’re seeing the same thing in the housing market.

The foreclosures and short sales over the past few years have leftmany buyers afraid to make their move. They didn’t know when theprices would stop falling and let their fears control them. Sometimesthey would start looking at homes only to let themselves get outbidwhen they found one they wanted. Today’s buyers regret that theydidn’t buy a year or two earlier. Investors are wishing they had boughtmore.

Bargain prices of last year are history. We still have some nicehomes available at prices that will look awesome in another year ortwo. As Lynn Pineda says, “Stop Worrying and Buy a Home”.

Debbie Drummond has over ten years experience in the Las Vegas Real Estate Market. She specializes inluxury homes and high rise properties. If you’re buying or selling a Las Vegas home, call (702)354-6900 or

email Debbie@LVHomePro.com. We’ll be happy to assist you in your move.