A new report from TD Canada Trust shows that many first time home buyers wish they had done things differently.

Despite being the single largest purchase of most peoples lives, research doesn’t seem to play a big role for most first time buyers.

More than half of those surveyed said they would have preferred to have a bigger down payment and bought sooner.

Many first-time homebuyers said they could have been better prepared and more thorough when budgeting, the poll found. Thirty-seven per cent of those surveyed did not budget for ongoing costs such as maintenance and utilities, while 17 per cent overlooked some of the one-time charges like inspection fees and five per cent didn’t budget for anything beyond the down payment and mortgage payment.

That article quotes a mortgage broker who advises that you make sure you’re able to make the monthly payment, don’t worry so much about the down payment or the timing of your purchase.

Some of the extra costs that some first time home buyers don’t seem to be budgeting for are inspection, appraisal, property transfer tax, legal fees, CMHC fees, Strata fees or mortgage rate increases.  Then of course there’s ongoing maintenance and insurance.

I suspect a ‘bigger down payment’ will always be on the wish list, but if the Vancouver market does the bubble pop dive you may see the ‘bought sooner’ wish drop right off there.