“Never Again”: 30 Homeowners Warn Others About The Mistakes They Made With Their First Houses
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!
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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.
My friend's dad lived by the one project a year rule. House never looked outdated. If it was an expensive project (kitchen or windows) then the years before and after were cheap (paint etc).
The situation i am about to put myself in🥲 meh its just a tiny issue, just some trickling water, well 84 small trickling waters just became a violent flood when moving became a reality .
Yep, never ignore trickling water or faulty wiring. These things can turn into major problems within moments.
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Preventative maintenance and taking care of things that are "no big deal" early may cut into a little bit of your free time now, but can save a LOT of time later. It's easier to replace the wallpaper when it starts to peel or clean the smudges off the walls when you notice them, than it is to replace the wallpaper AND clean ALL the smudges off before your have to paint THE WHOLE HOUSE before you sell. I just miss iced out of all apartment weed lived in for a little over a year, and it took 2 18 hour days to clean the damn thing, without any furniture in it! Will definitely stay on top of the less frequent cleaning tasks (especially in the kitchen) for my new place, so that if we move again, it isn't such a chore
My parents have built and sold multiple homes over the years and they always joked that they never got the houses exactly how they wanted until they were about to move again and never got to enjoy the finished products
I am 61, just sold my house, and while I stayed on top of most things, I still had a lot to do to sell. For example, broken grout that I had simply ignored suddenly became a Very Important Project.
I just bought a house that needs a lot of little-to-medium things; a fixer-upper. The price was good, but I know what I'm going to be doing while I save up for bigger projects like redoing the kitchen and bathroom.
I'm still in my "first" house and have let things go for so long. I don't even know where to begin.
I know that by the time I sell, the colours I choose won't be on trend. Whatever I had done to the bathroom or kitchen won't be on trend. I keep my place in good repair and clean, and it works for me. Trust me - granite countertops and a fancy range won't improve my cooking. A rain shower won't make me any cleaner than my shower now. A walk-in closet, which would require major restructuring of a 100+ year townhouse, won't give me a better wardrobe or help me sleep better at night. By the time my place goes on the market, I'm going to hand it off to the realtor and say, "You know someone capable of putting lipstick on this pig. Give me an estimate and go to it." The amount of time and money and aggravation I will save myself in the intervening years is totally worth it to me.
You can always sell it with the stipulation 'as is'. If you want to buy a house that has zero cosmetic needs, buy a new build. Expecting an existing house to be in mint condition is not realistic. It's going to show signs of wear in places. When I bought my house I had to replace all the carpeting and flooring along with painting everything. Also updated lots of other stuff. It was built in '45, of course it was going to need things here and there. And I'm sure when I sell, the new owner will do their own updates.
That’s a lot of things that will need to be done if going to purchase “as is”. Will knock down the offers for sure. They want to take out of the offer what it’s going to cost them to fix it all. The seller’s fixes don’t have to be top of the line, just presentable.
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It's best to stay on top of things before it turns into a black hole.
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.
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.
A little tip for renovations. Start with the bedroom. Get it done so you have a place to rest/safehaven. Do 1 room at a time afterwards. Hallways are always the last thing you renovate. When you do the kitchen try and find a small area first where you can setup a temporary kitchen. Takeout is gonna get old real fast, and coffee/tea will keep you sane. If you only have one bathroom/toilet do it when you got time off work so you can get it done as fast as possible. Edit: when you start a project. Make a time schedule. Then add about 40% to it. Nothing is ever easy there are always bumps on the road, and they are easier to deal with when you dont feel pressured from time.
Buying that cute little cabin wayyyy out in the mountains. Can't work from home as the internet sucks, commute to any job is at least an hour. Buying groceries takes an entire morning and healthcare is 90 minutes away.
Going with an inspector the realtor recommended. Regret it every day
I did something similar. I went with the conveyancer the real estate manager suggested. He "forgot" to include our $10,000 deposit on the final tally. Luckily I noticed it immediately, and got him to fix it, but we suspected he and the real estate manager had some deal going.
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.
A guy up the road from us decided to save money by extending his driveway sideways himself. Cut thru the broadband cable…took out the internet for the entire neighbourhood. Cue lotsa repairy type blokes, digging holes and having to run new cable all the way down from the top of the road into our housing estate.There were white vans and blokes in fluoro jackets everywhere. All on a holiday long weekend. I don’t think he saved money on his driveway. 😄
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.
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
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.
Two story house with all the bedrooms upstairs and the laundry was at the opposite end of the house on the lower level.
The builder suggested moving the laundry to the second floor since it was a floor plan change they’d done before.
My mother in law talked us out of it because it would change the guest room layout.
Regretted that decision every time I carried laundry baskets up and down the damn stairs.
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.
We bought the empty lot Nextdoor to our house! We live in a historic district in Kansas. The house that was on the lot burned down many years prior, can’t build a new one there bc historic district. Owner stopped paying taxes, lot went up for auction, no one else wants it bc you can’t build on it and voila! Doubled our yard space for $150.
Thinking all of our neighbors would be neighborly.
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.
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.
Ignoring that weird running water sound we couldn’t identify. We were *very* young, very stupid homeowners and after checking around inside and out we just shrugged and figured it was one of those weird things where you could hear the water in the pipes. Nope. Three days later my mom came to visit, heard the noise, opened the hatch to the six or seven foot high crawl space we forgot we had, and discovered our brand new indoor wading pool courtesy of a busted outdoor spigot that we didn’t know to winterize (did I mention we were young and stupid??). Thankfully fate smiles on the truly foolish. The pipe was fixed, the water seeped into the ground over a period of time, and all was right with the world. I still don’t know who builds a house with a “crawl space” the could double as an unfinished basement.
Larger crawl spaces are a blessing to the people, trades, that need to work under your home.
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.
Didn't check the air filter for the HVAC when I moved in. When I went to replace it *almost an entire year later* (that was my second mistake), there was no air filter. Previous owners must have removed it without replacing, so the HVAC system was just raw dogging the air in my condo for an entire year.
I've bought 3 homes in my lifetime...the first two were both over 100 years old...both times got a s**t inspector...both times I had to replace the HVAC within one week of moving in as well as MANY other things like securing a foundation wall. Third home, I gave up on my love for the old homes and just built one!
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.
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.
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.
I had a new home and not didn’t have hardly any furniture or kitchen stuff. I thought I should remedy this immediately by putting all the stuff on cards. Ended up taking years to pay it off, and much of the stuff I bought, I ended up not really liking or using.
As someone who did not grow up in the US, I did not know the difference between vinyl and hardwood flooring. The new construction home I bought had hardwood floors mentioned in the listing (it still has) but the builder gave me cheap vinyl floors and my realtor (who was also selling those new construction homes) did not feel the need to point it out / fix it or get me a deal!
Second, my realtor convinced us that 3 bedrooms + lounge area was better than 4 bedrooms. Builder got to save some money by not having to build a dry wall and completing a closet installation by leaving that area as an open lounge. We did not know any better and thought that a lounge with my TV, guitars and Xbox would be a great idea! I later realized the amount of equity we lost by not building it as a 4 bedroom instead.
Never worked with that realtor again. She still keeps sending us gifts from time to time. As first-time homebuyers from a different country of origin she should have educated us about these options when we had asked.
TL:DR - developing the right filters and mental model to screen your realtor (as a buyer) is invaluable.
Some realtors are the devil's spawn. You've got to learn which is which.
I failed to notice that there weren't any closets in the house. AT ALL.
Check the main sewer line usually in basements. I live in NJ. Old sewer pipes can crack and leak and clog up. I skipped this inspection in my first home inspection. Turned out the pipe was cracked and had tree roots growing in. Flood my whole basement with sewage water.
Still buying the house...even after the seller rejected my offer, then relisted the house at a much higher price. I was desperate to get out of NYC and was moving to Florida. If I didn't meet the seller's new price, it meant that I'd have to take more time off work and spend more money to take another trip back to Florida to start the house search process all over again. So, I ate the extra $50K he demanded. In hindsight, it was so dumb. I should have just stuck it through another NY winter and flown back to look at more options later. I always resented that d**k move and never felt great in this house -- and that was one reason. Hopefully, someone in a similar boat learns from this.
More bad news….if you’re in FL, you probably have an HOA, and there’s nothing worse than a bunch of retired power hungry busy bodies running the neighborhood.
I had a main line clog (but didn't know that). I couldn't get a snake through the toilet to flush out whatever clog seemed to be affecting that particular toilet. I flushed the other toilet and it worked (but it was at a slightly higher elevation).
So I pulled the toilet.
S**t water everywhere, flooding upwards from the f****e. The wax seal came apart when I pulled the toilet, and It had to be gallons before I got it plugged. I had to cut six inches from my drywall in the whole bathroom and throw away all the trim.
F-l-a-n-g-e... That's one of the words censored. Really? Is that a naughty word now?
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.
Forgetting to blow out the sprinklers before the first freeze of the season. It could have been worse but it was such a preventable thing.
Note: this post originally had 54 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Bought the house. I'm not homeowner material. There's a lot of responsibilities that go with being a homeowner, and I just can't keep up with them all, or don't care to keep up with them all. I hate yard word, I hate painting and decorating, I hate hiring people to do stuff for me. It's a disaster. If I could do it over again, I wouldn't buy. I know that its an investment, but for me, it's not a good one.
I always question the soundness of a house as an investment. The amount of money you have to chug into interest, repairs, maintenance, just minor things, adds up. So much more than renting. I don't even have to buy light bulbs.
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Bought a nice house outside the city in a quiet area with water on two sides... well, I am now disabled and there are no sidewalks anywhere. The well is too small, so water pressure sucks. Worst of all the septic system is failing. Because our field isn't grandfathered in, it can't be repaired. Since we have mostly water in our backyard, we can't just build a new one... $2000 to get an engineered field designed and $35,000 to get it installed (with the price going up 10% every year). With me disabled, we don't have the income to just pay for it but we make too much for an assistance loan; interest rates on a personal loan would make our payments as much as our mortgage. As much as people hate on BTC, I appreciate it because I made enough to pay for this catastrophe.
Do a web search of the address and neighbouring streets before you make any commitments. It might find things that don't appear in the estate agent listings. The local paper can be interesting. Map archive sites like https://maps.nls.uk (for the UK) might reveal old mines or quarries. Local councils often have planning application records on their websites so you can see if the empty field across the road is about to be redeveloped as houses. Visit the area at different times of day and different days of the week. Somewhere that's quiet at the weekend might not be during the week. This is all stuff that doesn't cost any money but can save a lot of time later.
Planning applications at least should come up on searches that your conveyancing solicitor will do for you but it's sensible to get a good feel for an area before you decide to start looking there.
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I think of all the cons of homeownership and they don’t come close to outweighing the single pro: no creepy crooked controlling landlord.
And no one has a key to your home unless you gave them one.
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After my father died I said to my mom that we (she was Dad's direct beneficiary but I was living with her) should sell the house. She said, "It needs too much maintenance," and refused. My dad, bless him, had thought he'd always be around to fix things, but of course he wasn't. (I know you were a war hero who fought Nazis, Dad, but dayum.) So after my mother died I ended up living in a huge, 5-bedroom house all by myself. Bro and SIL moved in after about 6 months and we have spent over 80 grand fixing all the issues. One issue can't be fixed - the soil has settled over the 47 years since Dad built the house (he built it himself as he was a bricklayer by trade although he worked in a white collar job for 35 years) and the outlet pipe from the one toilet no longer slopes downward. It's UNDER the house so there's no fixing it (the house is brick and concrete - here we don't build wooden houses). We throw large buckets of water down the toilet once a week to keep the pipe from clogging.
It is always cheaper to call a professional to do the job than it is to have them fix your mistakes.
I have an amazing house with 5 acres. BUT the house was on the market for almost a year. I was going to offer 20k less. It's in a SMALL town that most people have never heard of and they live 10 minutes or so away. Plus, I looked at the towns sale history. The realtor told me another offer was just put in that day, and I should up my offer. My mom, who took her real-estate boards, told me she was lying because she wanted a high commission. I panicked because I loved the house. Offered 5k less than listed. The previous owners were bragging to the neighbors. My neighbors couldn't believe the house in this area sold for almost asking. They would have been surprised if it sold for 30K less! Happy with my house, but soooo mad I paid 20k more than I intended. Lesson learned
My mistake (had the house built), being cheap on additions. Biggest mistake, not getting hardwood floors. I did think ahead though and got the best carpet padding available, with a cheap carpet, thinking I would get better carpet latter. Ended up never needing better carpet as the carpet padding helped keep the carpet in good shape. 20 years and only one buckle....
Assumed that every standard thing in the house was included only to find that the hot water service and the stove were not paid for. The former owner went bankrupt and still owed money on them. The receiver refused to remove the items, which were in poor condition and unlikely to sell individually, and demanded we buy them. I wanted them out so as to buy new rather than pay for damaged goods but dumb ex husband caved in.
A pretty niche thing. But we noticed a strange buzzing noise coming from our patio. It turned out that the previous owner had cut the electrical wires and left them live (in parallel with the outside light). Every time it rained the patio wires short circuited. Don't assume that your house's electrical system is safe.
No survey or house inspection? Anything wrong with the electrics should surely be noted?
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We hired the guy next door as a 'handy man' very bad idea.. we've had to redo every job he's ever done for us..always hire professionals
I think mileage varies, we had awesome (honest) realtors, a highly-rated house inspection company, got a good price on the house and since we're a handy family, maintenance hasn't been too bad.
got a house with a basement. never ever ever again. i hate basements. i am always uncomfortable down there. its where the laundry is kept and as its unfinished and old, it also leaks and has bugs. i physically dread going down there with every single fiber of my being.
Turn the lights on and have a radio playing to lessen the dread feeling
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We sold our beloved house to buy a different one--a cool large mid century modern place on a couple acres. Worst decision of my life. The house is awesome but it's in a s#!+ town. The people here suck and the "city" is fugly and completely devoid of culture and art. And now we're priced out of our former city so we're stuck here. A nice house is a hellhole if it's location is depressing. Location, location, location!
My husband and I bought our first house together a couple of months ago. It only had one owner since it was built in 1972! We had to do a lot of cosmetic work, but otherwise it's in pretty good shape. There are, however, a lot of "little" things that need to be fixed. The previous owner "fixed" a lot of things himself, but they were more like only temporary fixes. It would be so much easier to deal with everything if we both weren't so busy at our jobs. We work at the same place and work between 50-60 hours a week. On our days off, we have to spend that time working on the house. It's very annoying. All things considered, we would buy it again. If our jobs weren't so crazy, fixing the house would be so much easier. I told my husband that we are DONE doing things ourselves now. We're going to hire professionals from now on. Our mental health was suffering so enoughs enough. He finally agreed.
Brand new house, the builder asked what colours we wanted the walls painted. We decided on a different colour in each room, all really bright, strong primaries-no pastel shades for us. Aaaaah! Result: a month later repainting the whole house off white.
Bought the house. I'm not homeowner material. There's a lot of responsibilities that go with being a homeowner, and I just can't keep up with them all, or don't care to keep up with them all. I hate yard word, I hate painting and decorating, I hate hiring people to do stuff for me. It's a disaster. If I could do it over again, I wouldn't buy. I know that its an investment, but for me, it's not a good one.
I always question the soundness of a house as an investment. The amount of money you have to chug into interest, repairs, maintenance, just minor things, adds up. So much more than renting. I don't even have to buy light bulbs.
Load More Replies... Bought a nice house outside the city in a quiet area with water on two sides... well, I am now disabled and there are no sidewalks anywhere. The well is too small, so water pressure sucks. Worst of all the septic system is failing. Because our field isn't grandfathered in, it can't be repaired. Since we have mostly water in our backyard, we can't just build a new one... $2000 to get an engineered field designed and $35,000 to get it installed (with the price going up 10% every year). With me disabled, we don't have the income to just pay for it but we make too much for an assistance loan; interest rates on a personal loan would make our payments as much as our mortgage. As much as people hate on BTC, I appreciate it because I made enough to pay for this catastrophe.
Do a web search of the address and neighbouring streets before you make any commitments. It might find things that don't appear in the estate agent listings. The local paper can be interesting. Map archive sites like https://maps.nls.uk (for the UK) might reveal old mines or quarries. Local councils often have planning application records on their websites so you can see if the empty field across the road is about to be redeveloped as houses. Visit the area at different times of day and different days of the week. Somewhere that's quiet at the weekend might not be during the week. This is all stuff that doesn't cost any money but can save a lot of time later.
Planning applications at least should come up on searches that your conveyancing solicitor will do for you but it's sensible to get a good feel for an area before you decide to start looking there.
Load More Replies... I think of all the cons of homeownership and they don’t come close to outweighing the single pro: no creepy crooked controlling landlord.
And no one has a key to your home unless you gave them one.
Load More Replies... After my father died I said to my mom that we (she was Dad's direct beneficiary but I was living with her) should sell the house. She said, "It needs too much maintenance," and refused. My dad, bless him, had thought he'd always be around to fix things, but of course he wasn't. (I know you were a war hero who fought Nazis, Dad, but dayum.) So after my mother died I ended up living in a huge, 5-bedroom house all by myself. Bro and SIL moved in after about 6 months and we have spent over 80 grand fixing all the issues. One issue can't be fixed - the soil has settled over the 47 years since Dad built the house (he built it himself as he was a bricklayer by trade although he worked in a white collar job for 35 years) and the outlet pipe from the one toilet no longer slopes downward. It's UNDER the house so there's no fixing it (the house is brick and concrete - here we don't build wooden houses). We throw large buckets of water down the toilet once a week to keep the pipe from clogging.
It is always cheaper to call a professional to do the job than it is to have them fix your mistakes.
I have an amazing house with 5 acres. BUT the house was on the market for almost a year. I was going to offer 20k less. It's in a SMALL town that most people have never heard of and they live 10 minutes or so away. Plus, I looked at the towns sale history. The realtor told me another offer was just put in that day, and I should up my offer. My mom, who took her real-estate boards, told me she was lying because she wanted a high commission. I panicked because I loved the house. Offered 5k less than listed. The previous owners were bragging to the neighbors. My neighbors couldn't believe the house in this area sold for almost asking. They would have been surprised if it sold for 30K less! Happy with my house, but soooo mad I paid 20k more than I intended. Lesson learned
My mistake (had the house built), being cheap on additions. Biggest mistake, not getting hardwood floors. I did think ahead though and got the best carpet padding available, with a cheap carpet, thinking I would get better carpet latter. Ended up never needing better carpet as the carpet padding helped keep the carpet in good shape. 20 years and only one buckle....
Assumed that every standard thing in the house was included only to find that the hot water service and the stove were not paid for. The former owner went bankrupt and still owed money on them. The receiver refused to remove the items, which were in poor condition and unlikely to sell individually, and demanded we buy them. I wanted them out so as to buy new rather than pay for damaged goods but dumb ex husband caved in.
A pretty niche thing. But we noticed a strange buzzing noise coming from our patio. It turned out that the previous owner had cut the electrical wires and left them live (in parallel with the outside light). Every time it rained the patio wires short circuited. Don't assume that your house's electrical system is safe.
No survey or house inspection? Anything wrong with the electrics should surely be noted?
Load More Replies... We hired the guy next door as a 'handy man' very bad idea.. we've had to redo every job he's ever done for us..always hire professionals
I think mileage varies, we had awesome (honest) realtors, a highly-rated house inspection company, got a good price on the house and since we're a handy family, maintenance hasn't been too bad.
got a house with a basement. never ever ever again. i hate basements. i am always uncomfortable down there. its where the laundry is kept and as its unfinished and old, it also leaks and has bugs. i physically dread going down there with every single fiber of my being.
Turn the lights on and have a radio playing to lessen the dread feeling
Load More Replies... We sold our beloved house to buy a different one--a cool large mid century modern place on a couple acres. Worst decision of my life. The house is awesome but it's in a s#!+ town. The people here suck and the "city" is fugly and completely devoid of culture and art. And now we're priced out of our former city so we're stuck here. A nice house is a hellhole if it's location is depressing. Location, location, location!
My husband and I bought our first house together a couple of months ago. It only had one owner since it was built in 1972! We had to do a lot of cosmetic work, but otherwise it's in pretty good shape. There are, however, a lot of "little" things that need to be fixed. The previous owner "fixed" a lot of things himself, but they were more like only temporary fixes. It would be so much easier to deal with everything if we both weren't so busy at our jobs. We work at the same place and work between 50-60 hours a week. On our days off, we have to spend that time working on the house. It's very annoying. All things considered, we would buy it again. If our jobs weren't so crazy, fixing the house would be so much easier. I told my husband that we are DONE doing things ourselves now. We're going to hire professionals from now on. Our mental health was suffering so enoughs enough. He finally agreed.
Brand new house, the builder asked what colours we wanted the walls painted. We decided on a different colour in each room, all really bright, strong primaries-no pastel shades for us. Aaaaah! Result: a month later repainting the whole house off white.
