Homeowners , we want to hear everything .
For a big life step that’s incredibly normalized, owning a home seems to come with a guaranteed onslaught of trials and tribulations. Sometimes they’re minor blips, but oftentimes, they’re bigger issues that just make you want to bury your head in your hands and say, “I wish I could go back to renting.”
So, homeowners: I want to hear all about the moment (or, let’s be real, moments) when you ran into some sizable speed bumps and really regretted making the transition from renting to owning in the first place.
As a frustrated homeowner myself, I’ll go first. Recently, we discovered that the previous owner who DIY-renovated the house years before we bought it — which should’ve been the first red flag — didn’t install the shower correctly. As a result, the subfloor has been slowly rotting away for eight years, and now we’ll foot the massive bill to fix it all.
Maybe the sheer cost of regular maintenance is something you weren’t prepared for, and you’re strapped for cash because of it. Yeah, your monthly payment is technically less than the rent at your old place. But the little things that were effectively included in your rent, like service calls on appliances and landscaping, are adding up.
Perhaps you learned the permanence of buying a home the hard way; when you got the job offer of your dreams from a company in a different state, you thought things would be as simple as selling your home and packing up the moving truck. But months later, you’ve doubled your monthly housing costs to rent while you patiently wait for the old place to sell.
Or maybe you just miss the carefree life you had as a renter. Gone are your weekends of fun activities and exploring new places. Instead, you’re in your lawn-mowing, leaf-raking, snow-shoveling era so you don’t end up with a nasty email from your HOA — or judgmental neighbors.
