The picture you see above is from an article that popped up on my feed this morning from CNBC. I just about choked on my coffee when I read the headline. Needless to say, I was intrigued. Could this really be? If this were true, this would be a huge shift in the way younger homeowners felt about buying their first home. I dove into the article with great interest, but it was a bit sparse (to say the least) on the details of the study.
So I decided to dig a little deeper and read the actual survey (from Bank of the West) that the article was based on. Let’s just say, CNBC (and several others news outlets) took a VERY benign statistic and somehow turned it into an eye-catching story headline. I’m not gonna go as far as calling it click-bait, but it was awfully close.
Here’s the deal. The 70% number was the number of millennial homeowners who HAVE REGRETS about how PREPARED they were for the home buying process.
“Having regrets” about preparedness is worlds away from outright regretting the purchase of a home. Take a look below at the actual infographic from the study.
Not only does the survey NOT prove the point that the news headlines indicate, but much of it was actually very encouraging. Here are just a few of the fascinating tidbits packed inside:
- Four in ten Millennials are homeowners already. Top motivators include feeling stability, feeling homeownership makes financial sense and being able to modify a home.
- Most Millennials see themselves staying in the same area for the next 10 years. (What? I thought Millennials were consumed with wanting the flexibility to be able to move often?)
- Millennials view homeownership as a financial investment. Nearly half say it makes more financial sense to own versus to rent and over one-third believe it’s a good investment.
And that’s just the homeownership portion of the study. They also surveyed millennials in regards to “The American Dream,” “Relationship With Debt,” “Investing for Retirement,” and “Gender Differences.” I can’t wait to write more about the findings in the future. But for now, suffice it say that if you are a millennial and are thinking about buying your first home, don’t let this misquoted survey scare you away.
What this study DOES do is support the two guiding principles of buying your first home that we will continue to preach regularly here at Wallet Wise Guy:
- Be selective about your home choice. (this will help to minimize regrets #2 and #3)
- Make sure you have plenty of available liquid reserves. (this will help to minimize regrets #1 and #4)
If you’re looking for a full, step-by-step, resource on how to complete your first home purchase without regrets, be sure to check out our First-Time Homebuyer Guide.
