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Buyer’s Remorse and its Impact on Millennial Homeowners BY SHELBY O’HARE Imagine this scenario, your millennial client has come to you after saving up enough money after years of living in their parents' house. They find a home and make an accepted offer. The time comes when they move in and everything seems perfect. A few months later, they experienced their first unexpected expense as a homeowner. The furnace breaks and it’s going to cost thousands of dollars to replace it. You then receive a call from the client, and they tell you they are experiencing regret regarding their recent home purchase...
Maybe the above scenario has happened to you or not, but buyer’s remorse is very common among American homeowners, and, according to a recent Bankrate survey, it’s hitting millennials harder than any other generation. Almost half (44%) of Americans experience remorse following the purchase of a new home. Broken down further, nearly twothirds (63%) of millennials experience buyer’s remorse, which is almost double the amount of baby boomers (35%). So, why are millennials having bigger regrets compared to other generations? According to the survey, unexpected costs for maintenance and repairs are the top reason for remorse in 18 percent of all homeowners, and 25 percent of millennials. This number is higher than older generations likely because millennials tend to be in the first-time home buyer category. It’s possible that this is the first time in their life that millennials won’t be renting or living with their parents. The reality is, a homeowner can’t just wait for someone else to notice a problem, fix it, or call their landlord to take care of it. If there’s something wrong with the house, the homeowner is the one that is responsible for fixing it or paying someone else to do so. While the survey provides interesting insight into the difference between baby boomers and millennials, it seems only logical that these generations are experiencing different amounts of remorse. More than likely, millennials are firsttime home buyers while baby boomers are on house number two, three, or even four. While it’s possible that some of the 4
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baby boomers that responded to this survey are first-time home buyers, baby boomers have the benefit of experience. Due to inexperience, millennials might not know exactly what they’re doing when it comes to purchasing a home for themselves, and they may be making compromises on
