Most recent buyers said stress, timing pressure and FOMO led to regrets
Two-thirds of recent homebuyers – and more than three-quarters of first-time buyers – walked away from the closing table with regrets, most often that they paid too much or failed to negotiate harder.
In a new survey from Best Interest Financial and Clever Real Estate, 66% of buyers reported second thoughts about their purchase, including 76% of first-time buyers. Paying too much (21%) and not negotiating more (20%) topped the list of regrets.
Stress outweighed logic at the closing table
The research, based on 947 Americans who bought homes between 2023 and 2025, painted a picture of a market in which external forces and raw emotion often outweighed careful planning.
A majority of respondents said their decision was shaped by factors beyond their control, from the macro economy to friends’ social-media highlight reels.
“Although buying a home is undoubtedly a logical and financial decision, it’s also often a psychologically challenging and emotional one for many buyers,” the report said.
In practice, 44% of recent buyers admitted they “followed their heart more than their head” and 36% said their emotions pushed them to act against their better judgment. Nearly half (45%) thought homebuying “should be a logical process,” yet 41% wished they have been more rational.
Those conflicting impulses showed up in how quickly people moved. Forty‑two percent of buyers said they moved faster than they were comfortable with, while 40% kept going at points mainly because they wanted the stress to end.
Among first‑time buyers, 53% viewed their choices as risky, and 52% said stress alone pushed them forward.
Economy and peers pushed buyers to move early
Economic anxiety weighed heavily. About 41% of buyers – including 56% of first‑timers – felt pressured to purchase sooner for fear the economy would deteriorate.
Nearly two‑thirds of first‑time buyers (61%) believed the broader economy, not their own readiness, dictated when they bought.
US Treasury yields surged higher at the start of the week as an oil-price spike and renewed conflict in the Middle East outweighed the market’s usual rush into safe assets, raising fresh questions for mortgage lenders and borrowers.https://t.co/27p6BKz7B1
— Mortgage Professional America Magazine (@MPAMagazineUS) March 2, 2026
Overall, 78% of buyers said external factors influenced their decision, and one in four repeat buyers cited pressure from tight inventory, compared with 17% of first‑timers.
The US housing market entered 2026 still short more than 4 million homes, with new construction in 2025 once again failing to keep up with household formation and long‑running demand from Millennials and Gen Z, according to Realtor.com’s latest Housing Supply Gap Report.
The emotional fallout did not stop at closing. Forty‑four percent of first‑time buyers said the process made them feel like failures, and 41% were embarrassed by their budget.
A third of recent buyers still checked listings after purchasing, and 66% reported at least one regret about the home they chose or how they bought it.
What it meant for mortgage professionals
Industry professionals said those findings tracked with what they have been seeing on the ground.
“U.S. home affordability is at its worst level in decades,” Bankrate analyst Stephen Kates previously said, pointing to a “punishing combination of high home prices, low supply and high mortgage rates” that have driven one in six shoppers out of the market altogether.
In earlier interviews with Mortgage Professional America, brokers also warned that volatile markets were feeding a sense of urgency that could later turn into remorse.
“Last year was always a better time to buy,” said Phil Forbes of Warsaw Financial, arguing that clients need to focus on long‑term fundamentals rather than trying to time the perfect rate or price point.
Others stressed the importance of managing fear before it warped major decisions. Mortgage advisor Ross Sykes of Homefront Lending said “one of the biggest things is creating a really solid relationship from the beginning and asking what’s their why,” to anchor first‑time buyers who might otherwise react to headlines or peer pressure.
The combination of elevated rates, constrained supply and social pressure has already reshaped the buyer pool. The National Association of Realtors’ latest profile showed first‑time buyers down to just 21% of the US market, with a median age of 40, underscoring how long households were waiting to step onto the ladder.
Meanwhile, new data from real estate giant Redfin show the median age of first-time buyers fell to 35.
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