Too many homes to remember? Try this...

Common real estate advice is NOT to see too many homes in one day. Afterall, they all blend together after the 5th or 6th one, so seeing any more than that should be out of the question - right? You mix up one home's kitchem with another's deck, with another's garage, and so on. The entire day is practically a waste, and you are no closer to finding a great home. But with trial and error I discovered a simple tip that, despite it's simplicity, has worked enormously well for my Buyers....

After seeing the 2nd home on your tour (which are often Sunday Open Homes) rank your favorite, and discuss with whoever you are with why it's your favorite. After the 3rd or 4th home, rank your top 1 and 2 homes, and completely rule out those not in your top 2. After your 5th and 6th homes, rank the top 3... BUT only if a 3rd home warrants consideration with the top 2. Don't bother to remember homes that you really aren't interested in.

If you rank, and re-rank the top homes EACH TIME you see a new home, and discuss what you liked, you'll actively recall only your top homes over and over again, and never bother to recall the ones you don't like. Not only do you recall your favorite homes, but you'll very quickly rule in, or rule out the home you just saw very quickly. And my, how exciting to see a new home that trumps your previous favorite. And while not exciting, you can just run in and out of homes you don't care for.

My Buyers have ended up wanting to go back and revisit their favorite home before calling it a day to re-compare it. If they decide to make an offer they feel confident because they had truly compared it in every imaginable way to all of the other homes they saw.

Of course there are times when 1 or 2 stood out a bit, but hardly anything they really wanted to write an offer on. Knowing the market myself, I could advise them that we had a bad day and there really are better homes so it would just be a matter of time if we kept coming out to see the newly listed homes. Or other times I could advise that we did see an excellent selection of homes, and that clearly what they were looking for would probably never be found in either that area, or that price range, no matter how long we looked, so we needed to go back to the drawing board.

The bottom line is that the ranking (and don't forget the re-ranking) gets you to your goal faster, and helps you get out of the aweful experience of hunting for something that doesn't exist when you're not on the mark. Do it yourself, or do it with me or one of my "Showing Agents" and I guarantee a better house hunting experience.