The Most Stressful Cities to Buy a Home

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Buying a home is generally considered to be stressful, but stress levels may be increasing even more now as buyers face rising home prices and fierce competition in the marketplace.

Thirty-nine percent of first-time buyers say the stress of buying a home made them feel physically ill, according to a new study from HouseFresh, a site dedicated to sprucing up the home.

Some buyers use social media to share their stress. HouseFresh analyzed thousands of property-themed social media posts to identify the most stressful cities to buy a home in the United States.

Bangor, Maine, is the most stressful city to buy a home, according to the study. Like many other places across the country, home prices have surged in Maine over recent months, and bidding wars have erupted.

“It looks to me almost like desperation, where they have to get into a house and they’ll pay anything to get into the house until they are paying above that list value,” NextHome Experience broker Lisa Caron told HouseFresh. “Winterport and Stockton Springs—we’ve had some that were sight unseen a lot. And Bangor too—sight unseen.”

A graphic showing a collection of the most stressful cities to buy a home in the U.S.

Buyers in other cities may face a less stressful transcation. HouseFresh identified the following areas as the least stressful places to purchase a house.

A graphic showing a collection of the least stressful cities to buy a home in the U.S.

HouseFresh says some steps to combat stress while purchasing a home: Buyers should know exactly what they can afford, including factoring in renovations, decorating, maintenance, and more beyond the initial purchase costs; find the right real estate agent to help them; accept that no home is perfect; and ask the right questions and do their own research about the area, bills and taxes, and issues with the home.

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