edit: thank you to all who have commented. What started out as intense buyers remorse is becoming more of a mild case of fomo now. You’ve all reminded me of the reasons why I chose to buy our current house and many of your stories are helping me to keep optimistic about the future. Keep those stories coming because it’s really helping me and hopefully others who are in the same boat
For a little bit of background, we had house hunted for a year. Searched far and wide and eventually decided we want to buy in the same city we were currently renting, and in the same area as where the kids are currently enrolled in school—so that narrowed us down to 4 neighborhoods.
Neighborhood A- where we were renting. Built in 2015 with space saving in mind, so although the square footage wasn’t bad, it feels more cramped compared to the other two older neighborhoods. Lot size is tiny with essentially no backyard but there are community amenities.
Neighborhood B- essentially the same as neighborhood A.
Neighborhood C- built in 1980s. Largest lots of the four neighborhoods but l none of the houses have an open kitchen which was a must.
Neighborhood D- built in 2000s. Mid sized lots with open kitchen. House style most in line with what we were looking for. The only caveat is it’s within a mile of a landfill (but imo did not smell at all. We have gone to park play dates there and I did not smell anything even after hours of sitting outdoors. Also we know someone living in this neighborhood and she has no complaints.)
Last summer, we went to an open house in neighborhood D. It had a nice layout and a lot of potential but at that time didn’t decide for sure that this city is where we wanted to live yet, so we didn’t put in an offer.
Then in the fall, we put in an offer in a different city but backed out because we realized that we wanted to live in the current city. And once that was decided, I really regretted not purchasing the house we saw in the summer. But looking back at the home sales in that neighborhood, it seemed to rarely go up for sale…in 2024, only 2 or 3 went up for sale and only one of them was the model we liked. The year before that, that model didn’t even go for sale.
Then February this year, a house came on the market in neighborhood A. When we first rented here, we never thought we would buy here. But I guess having lived in the rental for so long, we started feeling more and more comfortable with it. I was torn on buying the house—it’s bigger than the rental house, we already know so many families who have kids the same school/grade as my kids. The community pool is amazing. However, like I said, the house itself wasn’t a dream home. I compromised on high ceilings, no fireplace, no curb appeal, tiny 2 car garage with no extra place for storage. I’m big on hosting family and I just don’t see that happening because the great room is smallish, maybe good for having 1-2 other family come over but not larger Christmas or thanks giving dinners. It kind of feels like living in dorms, but family style. However, all these aside we still decided to go for it. I don’t want to put it as blame on my husband as he’s always respected my decision, but I do feel somewhat pressured into it. He essentially put it as, “you know if we don’t go for this house then we can kiss ever buying a house in neighborhood A goodbye. We don’t know when a house like neighborhood D would come up for sale again and our rental agreement was ending in a few months. Housing prices are so high and keep getting higher. By the time spring comes around, there will be more inventory but also fiercer competition (which we saw firsthand last year)”. My initial thought was no to the house, but I was able to be convinced because I was worried it would be on me if we cannot find a house and also because I was the one who initiated backing out of the other house. I was always the no person and felt guilty about it.
Essentially I felt at that time that waiting for the specific house I wanted wasn’t practical so I settled. Then of course 3 weeks after closing, the house I was waiting for popped up on the market. (Huge mistake for not turning off Zillow emails.) this house was even better than the one we saw in the summer as it was completely remodeled to exactly my style. I dropped by the open house hoping to convince myself the pictures made it look better, and am now completely devastated. It definitely felt like the one. And because it’s close to a landfill, the price was great and cheaper than the house we bought by 200k. I know nothings ever for sure but I have a feeling, had we wanted to bid for it, we could easily have gotten it.
I know nothing can be done now. We will not be moving for a while (10 years probably?) so I am so sad that I didn’t get that dream home for my kids to grow up in. I’m trying to tell myself all the pros of the house we just bought…much more friends around, great pool, farther from the landfill, etc but I am still sad. I think partially because I knew this house didn’t feel like the one but settled anyways because it was good enough. And partially because my husband has always been more house happy than I was (we’ve put in a few offers over the past year and every time I felt relieved we didn’t get the house. The one we did get accepted, I was the one that wanted to back out.) It’s just a difference in our personality. I’m much more indecisive but patient and willing to wait for as long as it takes whereas he’s happy to be done and doesn’t ever look back. But after a year of looking and me constantly saying no to houses (along with a slew of other mental health and physical health problems), I felt like I just caved since at least this house is in a neighborhood I am comfortable with.
I am rambling sorry. It’s probably a talk I should have with my therapist. But for all those who have had buyers remorse, are you feeling better???