When you go to house after house looking at kitchens, bathrooms, living spaces, yards…it all starts to run together. Before you know it, you remember nothing and the day is wasted. 

The first thing that I recommend to my buyer clients is not to look at more than four homes in a day. It’s not for the sake of time, but that four homes is all that your brain can mentally process and retain. Also, if you start to feel tired or overwhelmed, the best thing that you can do is HALT. This is an acronym used in many counseling circles that describes the worst time to make a decision. Never make a decision when you are:

HUNGRY

ANGRY

LONELY

TIRED

It’s ok to halt! Once the fatigue cloud has hit your mind, it doesn’t matter how great a house is, you won’t be able to properly view it and take into account the parameters of your lifestyle and whether the space will work for you and your family. You want to make such an important decision when you are feeling fresh and in an excellent frame of mind.

The second recommendation is to always take notes, photos, and videos. Regardless of how sharp you are feeling that day, a human being can only absorb so much and these are great references to come back to, especially when planning an offer. I provide my buyers with a house hunting checklist, one for each home that we will be viewing that day. This will assist with some of the technical parameters as well as assist you with remembering what you liked and didn’t like about the home. 

It is also perfectly acceptable to take photos and videos of a home that you are viewing as long as you don’t plan on advertising that media anywhere. I suggest taking video of the neighborhood as well as the home and yard so that you can better remember the location and surrounding amenities. The more information armor that you prepare yourself with, the better your informed decision will be.