If the American Dream is to own a home, it seems the American Nightmare might be the actual buying process. According to a new study by ValueInsured [1], 59 percent of American homeowners describe their buying experiences in terms like “having a root canal” and other colorful (and painful) language.
While a third of those surveyed told ValueInsured that the buying experience was similar to “a bumpy roller coaster ride,” another quarter compared the process to dentistry, to watching paint dry, and simply as “a defeat.”
Gen-Xers and millennials appear to have it worse than older homeowners. According to the report [2], 72 percent of all Gen-X homeowners described their most recent home buying experience negatively while 69 percent of millennials did the same.
ValueInsured's numbers mesh with a report the firm did last year on homebuyer regret, which found that 51 percent of all homeowners h [3]ad regrets about the process they went about to buy their home.
However, positive feedback among millennials was forthcoming. millennials, with 15 percent, were the most significant segment among all age groups to describe the experience as similar to “winning the golden ticket.”
This, the report stated, “reaffirms the challenges faced by young American homebuyers, and the gratification they feel when they manage to buy a home.”
According to ValueInsured, nearly 80 percent of younger homebuyers say that homeownership is an important goal to achieve. Their recent survey found that 7 percent among homebuyers, had a strong desire to become homeowners and the next generation “continues to view homeownership as an essential part of their American Dream, 78 percent among them being young Americans.
Overall, 41 percent of all homeowners did feel positively about their most recent home-buying experience, according to the report. A third described the experience as “a walk in the park,” while 10 percent described it as like “winning the golden ticket.”