Becoming homeowners felt like fulfilling a dream, but it's been more challenging than we expected. There are a lot of things I wish we'd done differently when we purchased our first house. Jennifer Calonia Three years ago, we spent most of our savings buying our first home in Los Angeles. We have regrets. If we'd had a smaller down payment, we'd have money to personalize the house and handle emergencies. The mental load of homeownership is more than we expected, and I worry we rushed into this.