Purchasing your first home is an extremely exciting experience. Finally, you won’t need to hear neighbors blasting techno at all hours of the night or fight for a parking spot when you come home after 9pm. You’ll be able to grow a luscious garden of your own and have the opportunity to hammer nails into the walls without losing your security deposit.
However, like most things in life, practice makes perfect when it comes to buying houses, so it’s inevitable that we’ll make a few mistakes the first time. To spare future home buyers from dealing with the same issues, homeowners on Reddit have recently been sharing all of the things they wish they had done differently when buying their first homes. Enjoy reading through their thoughts, and be sure to upvote the insight you’ll keep in mind the next time you move!
- Read More: “Never Again”: 30 Homeowners Warn Others About The Mistakes They Made With Their First Houses
#1
Buying in an HOA. Never again.
Image credits: -make-it-so-
#2
Didn’t stay on top of the cosmetic things over thirteen years. The carpet was a bit worn, but no biggie. Could stand to replace the wallpaper in the bathroom with paint, but no biggie. Never did rehang that towel bar but I was a single dude, so no biggie. Refrigerator works but occasionally makes a noise like a clucking chicken, no biggie. And on and on. Filled multiple handwritten pages.
Until I wanted to move. All those no biggie issues became about nine months of doing not much else with my weekends and evenings.
With my current house I now stay on top of that stuff. Never again.
Image credits: Cyrano_de_Maniac
#3
I bought a townhouse on a beautiful golf course. The views from my home are magnificent, but they are out there before dawn 7 days a week doing maintenance. The biggest, loudest equipment I’ve ever seen (or heard) plus weed trimmers and blowers. I don’t golf and the maintenance never crossed my mind when buying this place.
Image credits: chronic_insomniac
#4
Started too many DIY projects at the same time, demoed. a bathroom for remodel, removed doors from kitchen cabinets to be replaced, started removing wallpaper we didn’t like, removed old beat-up base trim, etc.
Result was we felt like we were living in renovation project for several years. Should have done one project at a time rather than getting carried away.
Image credits: richardelmore
#5
Going with an inspector the realtor recommended. Regret it every day
Image credits: solarslacker
#6
I didn’t call before I dug…hit a gasline. Such a doofus mistake and one I’ll never make again. Gas guy was super cool about it though after I admitted my shame. In the end, came out pretty unscathed both physically and financially thank goodness.
Image credits: Sure-Refuse-2914
#7
The biggest thing my wife and I learned was financial. Just because the bank tells you that you can afford anything up to a certain amount doesn’t mean you should go up to that amount. Sure we enjoyed the house, but we couldn’t really afford to do much. We couldn’t afford new windows that we desperately needed, we couldn’t afford to go on vacations, couldn’t afford to upgrade much of the house etc…. If we ended up staying there we wouldn’t have been able to afford to replace the roof when it would have needed it or handle expensive car repairs. We ended up moving to a more affordable house and now we have some money to start investing for retirement and to buy me a newer vehicle.
Image credits: TonyTried
#8
I tore out very high quality appliances just because they weren’t stainless steel
I tore out great vintage bathroom tile that seemed dated but I now wish I had kept
Image credits: RMW91-
#9
Starting projects I didn’t know how to finish. Those were tough lessons. As some point, it’s best to give up and call a pro.
Image credits: Spuckler_Cletus
#10
Could have bought the adjacent lot, it wouldn’t have made a big impact on our mortgage payment, but we didn’t. So a crazy couple build a house there and we were stuck with them for years.
Image credits: sonia72quebec
#11
Thinking all of our neighbors would be neighborly.
Image credits: SteveKraynakJr
#12
Doors come in different sizes. Fun facts.
Image credits: Cucalope
#13
Didn’t take care of the bushes and trees in the back. I assumed the rain would take care of them and I could trim as needed.
Almost everything was taken over by Ivy and killed, and everything else died because we didn’t prune enough.
Image credits: Dewalt-Shampoo
#14
We became enamored with a vaulted ceiling in the open concept living/dining/kitchen area when the other option was an additional room over the garage. Hindsight being 20/20, I’d live with a 10 foot ceiling and take the extra room.
Image credits: Imrindar
#15
Before making an offer I didn’t visit the house on weekend nights. I may have realized the scale of parties that get thrown in a neighbors house, and that would have saved me grief. Neighbors move, things change…. But look really closely at the neighbors before making an offer.
Image credits: zoinks_zoinks
#16
Realtor told us that the sellers would be really offended if we asked for a home inspection. Bought the house in October without an inspection. The following spring, one of the gutters fell off because the subroof was rotted. Oh, to be that optimistic again.
Image credits: MrsTaterHead
#17
Buying a house that needed a new roof. HOA requires specific tiles, which were on backorder. Homeowners insurance got dropped because the roof wasn’t replaced. By the time it was, the insurance agent ghosted me. It’s been nothing but a nightmare.
Image credits: jayellkay84
#18
I didn’t realize my first house was in a flood zone until it came up at closing. I should have walked. But it was all I could afford.
Image credits: secondrat
#19
Deciding to paint our own kitchen cabinets and measure/install our laminate countertops ourselves. They aren’t holding up, and wish we had just spent some $ for a professional job.
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Image credits: StunButton
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