In the hunt for the perfect house, it’s easy to get swept away by a home’s most charming details and play down the important stuff you’ll be kicking yourself for later. And if you are touring multiple open houses each weekend, keeping everything straight can get complicated.

Set your priorities and streamline the house-hunting process early on, and you can breathe easier knowing you have a handle on things. It’s probably the most important purchase you will ever make, so take a few deep breaths and make a plan.

These tips can help you stay organized and focused

1.  Make a Comparison Chart

after you have seen a few houses, it becomes difficult to keep track of the features in each one. Make things a little easier by creating your own comparison chart or checklist to bring along to each home, and make notes on it.

Extra Tip to this     Beyond the features,  consider including notes on landscaping, roof, exterior light in rooms, space to store items something you can look back on to help guide your decision-making. 

 We highly recommend every homebuyer hire and have a professional whole-house inspection, pest, well, septic, radon & Swimming pool test if your offer is accepted.

2. Set Your Priorities

Before you start to look at houses.  Take time to write down everything you want and need in a home, get input from all members of the household. Then take your top three, must-haves and focus more on your needs and if they can be adjusted to your budget when looking at a house.  Share these with your Realtor to help them better find you the right matches.

Once you start the house hunting process, all extra easy to do later things will distract you from your priorities.  Keep this list close so, you can stay on track.

3. Ask To Take Photos

 It’s amazing how quickly memory fades. Make sure you have backup by creating a floor plan and taking photos or a short video tour if possible. It will really give you a full picture of what the house looks like. Be sure to ask the Realtor for permission before taking any photos.  And even then, it is assumed that they are for personal use, so don’t post them to your Facebook page or blog . . . at least not until you own the house.

Extra Tip   You may even want to run some cell phone videos

4. Walk Through Once 

 When you tour a home for the first time, the excitement can make it difficult to focus on . . . well, anything at all. So we say, just go with it. Have fun, wander around and mentally note your first impressions of the space. Most of the time your first impression is the best

5. Start From The Begin again...

Walk back to the front of the house and literally begin your tour again. This time, pull out your notes and pen, take your time and approach the home as if you were an inspector rather than a potential buyer. What stands out? What do you notice that you may have questions about?

6. Choose different Times to see the Home

If you do come back for a second showing, make it during a different time of day from the first showing . In the evening, notice not only the changes in light, but the atmosphere in the neighborhood. Are people out sitting on porches? Are kids playing outside? Is it noisy? You are bound to learn and discover different things about the house each time.

7. Envision how you Would use the Space

Just because the current owner has the second bedroom set up for guests doesn’t mean you can’t use it as an office, a home gym or a nursery or a playroom. Paint colors, furniture arrangements and window treatments can also all be swapped out, so use your imagination and really put yourself in the home.  Look past all of their color choices