There are few moments in life more momentous than buying your first home.
Of course, as is the case with any big decision, after going through with it, your mind begins to spiral down into a series of doubts.
Most of the time, once you've moved in and lived there for a while, all these doubts begin to slowly disappear.
In some cases, though, those doubts quickly turn into regrets.
Particularly when you notice more and more elements of what you thought was your "dream" home that is more reminiscent of a nightmare.
Redditor californiabred was curious to hear the biggest regrets from people who recently purchased a home, leading them to ask:
"Homeowners who bought recently, what’s your biggest regret?"
Not The What, But The When
"Not buying 4 years ago."- 3rdPartyArbitor
Location, Location, Location!
"The situation when you bought a house where it was possible and a month later they sell a house in the area where you wanted"- BenefitOk3952
"Not knowing enough about the area/town."
"I hate where we live."
"Hoping we can move by the time my oldest starts kindergarten."- MP1087
jason patric fox GIF by Wayward Pines
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Upon Closer Inspection...
"The inspector told us the main drain in the basement was clogged."
"We thought it was clogged with something normal."
"It was, in fact, 'clogged' with cement from when our basement floor was redone."
"So now our basement regularly gets standing water on one side."- doctorpotterhead
"Hiring the wrong home inspector they missed so much, I really have to wonder if all those reviews were bought and paid for."- CaptainQuoth
Landscaping Decisions
"Not planting the fruit trees sooner."
"It’s a long wait."- SageLeaf1
Plant Hope GIF by The Seed of Life Foundation
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How Long Have You Got...
"Be shameless enough to perform your own base level of inspection of a house so you don’t have to rely on what an inspector finds or get in a situation where you have to make an offer regardless of what the inspection finds."
"Turn all the faucets on and run the dishwasher."
"Start the washer machine for a second."
"Figure out if there is any water pressure issue."
"Bring a multi line laser and a tape measure."
"Check for any significant changes in slope on the foundation for some settling issues."
"Pay attention to the downspouts."
"Do they terminate right at the house or do they have longer pipes that lead the water away?"
"Pay attention to the flooring and create a rough estimate of what it will cost to immediately replace the flooring."
"Way easier to do when you don’t have a house full of furniture and can do it right before you move in."
"On the financial side you need to talk with multiple lenders at all times and make sure they continue to give you the most up to date closing costs."
"There were a lot of sneaky numbers that made there way in that I was unaware of as a first time home buyer."
"Until that mortgage lender gives you the locked in rate don’t trust them as to what number they are currently telling you."
"Discover your maximum mortgage rate + escrow and work backwards as to the maximum house you can afford."
"Don’t buy based on the pipe dream of refinancing."- from_the_Luft
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Procrastination...
"Not recent, but I still regret not refinishing the floors before I moved in."
"I'll never do it now."- WinterFilmAwards
"I regret not having the inside painted and the carpet replaced before we moved in."
"Been here two years and it never felt like 'my home' until I got rid of the stains of those who came before."- DaisyRage7
Consider A Test Drive...
"Not particularly recent, but we did not pull out cars in the driveway or attempt to park them."
"So we didn't realize that my car could only enter the driveway from one direction, so I had to turn around half a block up every time I needed to park."
"And we just BARELY got two cars in the driveway."
"So my regret is that I took for granted that the driveway met our needs."- gtizzz
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Always Read The Fine Print
"I bought a few years ago."
"So many things have gone sideways."
"One thing I regret is not being educated about permits."
"Contractors/handymen/ anyone who works on your house really, never mentions a permit may be needed."
"Learned that it’s up to me and me alone to do the research and phone calls."
"Currently have a job on hold because they needed a permit."
"The company blamed me and now I’m not sure they’re even going to do the work."
"Watch the movie 'The Money Pit'."
"It’s not that far off."
"Some days I wish I’d just be a renter."- MissPeppingtosh
Simply Not Worth The Effort
"Don't bother childproofing your home."
"They still get in."- Blueblackzinc
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It's easy to question whether or not buying a home was the right decision.
But rather than live a life full of regret, why not make the most out of what you have, and turn your not-quite-dream home into a temporary dream home?
Who knows, it might even increase the resale value.
Redditor Xirkil wanted everyone to discuss the menu and all of its pitfalls, so they asked:
"What food do people mistakenly consider healthy?"
The list is long.
Let's start compiling.
Bad Water
50 cent drinks GIF by MTV CribsGiphy"Vitamin Water. My dentist calls it 'sugar water.'"
suhurley
"It’s part of my hangover cure, has been since college. I believe the unhealthiness goes well with a McDonalds McDouble lol."
namasteanddietcoke
I Can't Say
"My coworker brags about how she quit drinking soda because its so unhealthy and instead drinks 6 Gatorades a day. I don't have the heart to tell her."
Zanzaclese
"I legit gave myself Edema from drinking a bunch of Gatorade regularly--it wasn't as caloric because it was the low or no sugar varieties--without enough physical activity or another method to sweat the electrolytes out or enough water to flush them out."
"It was crazy when my doctor asked about my beverage consumption habits and that's the diagnosis I walked out with. A treatment of diuretic and avoiding the sports drinks unless I've been sweating a lot or at least sparingly and my hands, arms, and feet returned to their normal size lol."
blackenedEDGE
So Many Calories
"Based on a lot of the comments it seems it needs to be stated that if something is high in calories or fats doesn’t mean it’s inherently unhealthy. Eating 400 calories of almonds is a lot more filling and nutritious than 400 calories of Cheetos."
Halonos
"The shocking one for me was the peanut butter. I’m one of those people who will just grab myself a heaping spoonful as a 'snack.' And I’ll think 'Welp, a bit of protein would be great!' I’m probably downing f**king 500 calories with one mouthful."
CanWeAllJustCalmDown
From the Sea
"I read about a case where a guy was told to eat more fish, because of his heart health. But he only put on weight and his cholesterol, blood pressure and whatnot only got worse and worse. So the doctor asked a bit more carefully about his diet and the guy admitted to eating a lot of creamed fish soups, like chowder. So he was adding a little bit of seafood and a huge amount of cream to his diet. Not a good way to lose weight or lower your cholesterol!"
internet_commie
Low Quality
Sipping Lights Out GIF by Lights Out with David SpadeGiphy"Fruit juice often has as much sugar as a soda."
friendweiser
"It's only redeeming quality is that it has a few vitamins. Cutting out fruit juice helped me lose a lot of weight."
edlee98765
The fruit juice truth kills me.
Moderation
Ice Cream GIF by CallMeKatFOXGiphy"Frozen Yogurt. It might be better for you than ice cream but you still need to have it in moderation."
GrimmRetails
Alternatives
"Gluten free alternatives and gluten free diet in general. Obviously healthier if you have celiac/gluten intolerance as I do. Might also be healthier if you just cut gluten products out of your existing diet without adding replacements (essentially just becomes a low carb diet). But it’s amazing the number of people who think just switching all the junk in their diet to versions made with rice flour is going to magically make it way healthier."
ben121frank
All Lies
"Breakfast cereal. Grew up with the idea of it being 'part of a nutritious breakfast.' It's all lies. They might as well be donuts. Much like donuts, doesn't prevent me from loving the stuff."
CirothUngol
"I eat cereal for dessert. Never in the morning, but I will have a bowl after dinner when I have a sweet tooth."
Pamplemousse96
Bad Wisdom
"Completely excluding (natural) fats, sugars, etc. from their diets. You want a balanced diet, and excluding these often lead to eating more processed foods or a lack of protein or vitamins."
3ternaldumpsterfire
"It's outdated nutrition wisdom. back when they were trying to figure out why obesity was on the rise the processed sugar lobby tried to blame fat and that's why there's a market for low fat and fat free food."
"Now we know that sugar is the main culprit for obesity. it doesn't mean you should drink a cup of bacon grease every day, but nobody really does that (well some people do but they're weirdos and it's not common), but people do the equivalent of that with sugar all the time."
veenell
Six to ELEVEN
snacks offer GIF by safefoodGiphy"According to the food pyramid when I was a kid, grains/bread. Six to ELEVEN servings a day?!"
smugfruitplate
Time to be smarter about our diets and learn more about the food we get our fuel from.
"What was invented by accident?"
Romy And Michelle Were On To Something...
"Post-its."
"They were looking for a strong glue and produced a weak one, but the secretaries of the inventors pointed out that that it was ideal for making removable notes."- amerkanische_Frosch
Miracle Cure?
"Penicillin?"
"But it wasn’t invented just discovered by accident."- Tigydavid135
Cheesy Goodness!
"Velveeta cheese was a byproduct that was considered waste."
"Someone noticed that factory workers were dipping bread into that vat of byproduct during lunchtime."
"From there, Velveeta was born."
"Also, margarine was originally developed as supplemental chicken feed, but various recipes kept killing chickens."
"So, it was repurposed for human consumption."- Drlmichele88
"Probably cheese."
"My dads go-to small talk line for like 5 years in the 90s was, 'I wonder who the first person to eat cheese was'."
"'Must have been pretty hungry'.”- RabbiVolesBassSolo
nacho cheese GIFGiphyMaking The Best Of A Sticky Situation
"Superglue was invented during WW2 by accident."
"The inventor was trying to make clear gun scopes."- BootProfessional8335
Some Things Just Don't Need Fixing...
"I love how the video game character 'Kirby' was created and how he became his own series."
"Originally, Kirby was created to be sort of a 'test dummy' that would get a more detailed design later on, but the designers ended up falling in love with him as is and kept him as he was."
"The franchise reached its 30th anniversary this year and it’s one of Nintendo’s strongest properties to this day."- KipsyCakes
...But What It's Purpose?...
'Silly putty."
'It was a failed attempt at making synthetic rubber I believe or maybe glue I don't remember which."- SwimmerSea3163
GiphyWhere Would Transportation Be Today?
"Vulcanized rubber."
"Charles Goodyear came up with it by accident."
"Without it we don't have tires, gaskets, seals, soles of shoes, hoses, shock absorbers and hell of a lot more."
"Pretty much changed the whole world."- TriplePube
POW!
"Believe it or not, gun powder."
"Some Chinese scientists were trying to create fire bombs and made this powder type substance that just exploded in their face instead."- Reddit
Action!
"Special effects."
"For a while, it was assumed you had to keep the camera rolling thru a whole scene, also easier to splice the movie together."
"A director, forgot his name, was filming a bus when his camera jammed, by the time he fixed it, the bus had left and there was a bench right behind it."
"When they looked at the film during editing, it looked like the bus had magically turned into a bench."- stealthkoopa
fake martin scorsese GIFGiphyNext time you use baking powder instead of baking soda when baking a cake, don't be too dismayed by the flat cake you see before you.
However unsuccessful it may have been as a cake, it might have been the perfect formula for brownies.
Resulting in one happy, and delicious, accident.