The Data Behind the State of Today’s Homeownership Journey

When we started Honey Homes, it was to reduce the time and cost spent by homeowners managing their home needs, so they could live more comfortably and joyfully. We had all experienced the stress of never-ending to-do lists and the struggle to find and book expensive third-party tradesworkers to complete home projects. For the past two years, our members – over 1,000 and counting –  have consistently told us those pain points led them to Honey Homes.

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In October 2023, we decided to commission a national data report, featured in Newsweek, that goes a step deeper to quantify the anecdotal evidence we hear during each initial walk-thru and countless subsequent appointments. Today we’re excited to unveil our findings, which illustrate exactly how households are feeling about the current state of today’s homeownership journey.

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Soaring costs are having a major effect on household decision-making

Regardless of when or where you buy, owning a home requires ongoing investment. This year, inflation has compounded the cost – and the stress this creates – for homeowners to keep up with maintenance and repair needs. This, coupled with broader economic concerns, is having a meaningful impact on household decision-making:

• Homeowners are spending an average of nearly $10,000 ($9,924) every year on upkeep, repairs, and maintenance
• 74% of homeowners who are more likely to look for a new home instead of investing in upkeep on their current one cited the expense of home maintenance as a factor
• Among those who are more likely to invest in upkeep rather than look for a new home, 71% say inflation has reduced what they can spend on a new home while 47% say interest rates are too high to take on a new mortgage

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Burden of addressing home maintenance and upkeep needs is acute

When most people buy a home, they’re excited about their dreams of living and enjoying life inside it with family and friends. The time and legwork required to hang artwork, maintain appliances, conduct bigger repairs, and much more aren’t top of mind. For many, that soon quickly changes with home upkeep and maintenance becoming a hamster wheel homeowners struggle to get off. Respondents agreed:

• Homeowners say they have an average of 9 tasks on their home-to-do lists and procrastinate for 4 weeks on completing them
• 51% of those more likely to look for a new home instead of investing in upkeep on their current one say their upkeep/maintenance needs take too much time
• 42% of those same homeowners say they can’t do the upkeep themselves while 35% say their home is too difficult to manage
• The top 5 most procrastinated tasks cited by homeowners are:

• Repairing sticky/loose cabinet drawers/doors (64%)
• Mounting items on the wall (55%)
• Patching, paint touch-ups (55%)
• Hanging mirrors, artwork, etc. (50%)
• Assembling furniture (48%)

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Unreliability of today’s home service options is a major challenge

The home services industry is broken. Homeowners are forced to roll the dice every time they hire a tradesworker, relying solely on star ratings and reviews with no guarantee of a quality result or even that they’ll show up. It’s also difficult to find a tradesworker willing to take on smaller jobs such as quality of life improvements that are easy to relegate to the sidelines. We’re focused on providing a convenient and trustworthy solution for homeowners who have experienced these pain points:

• 57% are procrastinating on their home to-do list because of the difficulty finding a tradesworker while 42% who’ve found and hired one report they’ve been ghosted
• 26% said they’ve had bad experiences with hiring tradesworkers (among those more likely to look for a new home instead of investing in upkeep on their current one)
• 21% of homeowners are neither confident nor unconfident that the tradesworkers they do hire are going to deliver the quality of results they want

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Honey Homes believes the dreams people have when they buy a home can and should be realities. While these findings may paint a gloomy picture of how homeowners are feeling nationwide, it only further validates what we knew to be true when we launched in 2021. We’re more committed than ever to helping homeowners find joy in their homes while creating a new blueprint for the home services industry. We’re excited about how we’ll continue to accelerate those efforts in 2024 and beyond.

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How our survey was conducted

This random double-opt-in survey of 1,000 homeowners was commissioned by Honey Homes between October 20 and October 20, 2023. It was conducted by market research company OnePoll, whose team members are members of the Market Research Society and have corporate membership to the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) and the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR).

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Interested in joining Honey Homes? Set up your free walk-thru to review your to-do list and meet your dedicated handyman.