No home is perfect, but what are the most common things that homebuyers regret about their residence, when it’s all set and done?

Here’s an encouraging stat to help you sleep at night – 80 percent of homebuyers have at least one major regret about their new residence.

That was the finding of a new survey by HSH.com, which polled 2,000 U.S. adults about their home purchase regrets.

Top Homebuyer Regrets in 2014

Of course, HSH also polled respondents on their specific regrets, and these were the most common findings:

1. Size Matters – Nearly 16 percent of respondents said that their home was too small, while 9 percent said their home did not have enough storage/closet space; less than 3 percent of respondents, though, said their home was too big, so clearly our fixation on size has not stopped!

2. Neighborhood Details – Quite a few homebuyers also expressed regrets that they had not conducted more research about their community: 25 percent wished they had researched their neighborhood/neighbors more fully; while 20 percent wished they had researched property taxes; 22 percent wished they’d researched homeowner insurance costs; and 14 percent wished they’d researched local schools.

3. Sex Offender Registries – Although 47 percent of respondents said they researched sex offender registries before purchasing their home, 30 percent indicated that they had not done so (and later wished they had).

Regrets and Client Interactions

All those aforementioned regrets should not be taken lightly – of those sampled by HSH, 37 percent said they thought about their regrets frequently, and 22 percent said they thought about them every day.

That’s quite a thought, that nearly a quarter of homeowners regret some aspect of their home purchase every day. So whether its the home’s size, the caliber of the neighborhood and neighbors, or the level of property taxes and homeowner’s insurance, you’ll want to ensure that you have every base covered with your clients – your future referrals depend on it.