Purchasing a home can be one of the most stressful financial transactions most people ever make, causing about a third of buyers to lose sleep.
That’s according to a new survey from Seattle real estate startup Flyhomes asking 1,000 people about the stress of homebuying. About 15% of respondents said they were reduced to tears during the process while 20% got in a fight with their spouse or partner because of the stress.
Almost two-thirds of the buyers said purchasing a property “was more stressful than they expected,” the Flyhomes report said.
“Stress and homebuying tend to go hand-in-hand, even more than people think,” it said.
About 40% said they spent more than they expected to when purchasing a home, the report said. Half of the people who overspent say that they paid more than $20,000 more than they expected to – and 14% went more than $50,000 over budget.
Almost a quarter of buyers said they had some regrets about their purchase. When asked about specifics, over half say their new home required unexpected repairs or maintenance, a quarter said property taxes were higher than they expected, and 20% said maintenance was more work than they expected.
There were other regrets:
- Almost 1 in 5 said they weren’t happy with the location.
- About a third said they wished they’d bought a larger house.
- One in 5 said they wished they had more bathrooms.
- Nearly a third said they wished for a larger kitchen.
