Home Buyers' Regrets

Hindsight is a great thing - especially when someone with buying experience can tell you what they wish they had known. Here's the beginning of a list of regrets from recent home buyers:

• I should have asked the seller to do more repairs before closing.
• I should have scoped out the neighborhood at different times of day; the neighborhood gets a little dicey at night.
• I wish I had 20 percent to put down on my home so I wasn't saddled with mortgage insurance now.
• I wish I'd thought to have the sewer line tested-it's 90 years old and needs to be replaced.
  I should have bought the cheaper house with good "bones" in the nicer neighborhood and done a little cosmetic fixing.
• I should have done a "practice" commute - that road to work really backs up in morning rush hour.
• I wish I had researched the cost of remodeling before I bought my fixer-upper.
• I should have measured! I am never going to get that queen-sized bed up that narrow staircase.
  I wish I hadn't agreed to an escalator clause - now my house is worth less than what I paid for it.
  I wish I owned stock in Home Depot.
• I wish I had known my next door neighbor lets his dog roam free and crap on my lawn while he gets loaded, then wanders over to bug us and talk crazy-drunk-talk (i.e., hang out and check out the neighbors).
• I wish I had thought more about the things that are most important to me in a house. Focusing on the factors that fit with my lifestyle not just price and square footage.