Q: When looking for a home, how do you know if you’ve found The One?

Shopping for a home isn’t all that different from looking for a mate: You scroll through tons of photos online, make mental checklists of must-haves, then try to imagine a connection that could last decades. Are you sufficiently in love to commit for the next 30 years of your life?

When my spouse and I were searching for our first home in 2021, we frequently asked ourselves if the houses we toured were The One. I had been convinced that we had found it when I fell for a pretty, yellow house with a Moroccan-tiled entryway. I was heartbroken when we lost it in a bidding war.

A month later, another house came on the market in an ideal location, with a recently renovated kitchen and a charming, screened porch. Even better: It was in our price range. However, I had always wanted a spacious yard and this one was much smaller than what I had envisioned our dogs playing in.

When our real estate agent asked if we wanted to make an offer within minutes of walking through the house, I wasn’t sure. After all, you wouldn’t marry someone you had met just 20 minutes ago. So how were we expected to make the largest investment of our lives after only 20 minutes on the property?

My partner knew this cozy Cape Cod was The One the moment we walked inside. I took a little longer to be convinced. I pored over the listing photos and the ones I’d taken on my phone, drove by the house a few times, and scoured whatever property records I could find online. Two days after our showing, I attended the open house and tried to envision us living in the home.

That night we made an offer. Two months later, the house was officially ours. Nearly two years into homeownership, I’m convinced it’s the right house for us. Even when the dishwasher had to be replaced and our second floor needed to be rewired, I’ve never regretted the purchase.

When I mentioned this column to a few colleagues in the office, everyone chimed in with their own stories. For one colleague who estimates he looked at more than 100 homes over two years, he knew he’d found The One when a move-in ready house (with a pool!) in his price range in the town where he wanted to live went on the market. After touring so many properties, he had a good idea of what he wanted—and what he could live without.

It wasn’t love at first sight for another co-worker. He swears he bought the worst home—which reeked of the previous owners’ dogs—in the best neighborhood because that’s what he could afford. Once he closed, he had the floors refinished and the whole interior painted to alleviate some of the stench.

Another colleague told me he wasn’t impressed with his home the first time he visited it. It was a gloomy day when he and his wife first toured the property. But when the owner dropped the price by $100,000, they decided to give it another look. He negotiated it down an additional $50,000 and then used the savings to fund a near-gut renovation.

What to consider before putting in an offer

It’s easy to lose sight of the things you are absolutely not willing to settle for in today’s highly competitive housing market. The nation has been gripped by a severe housing shortage that isn’t expected to ease anytime soon. So there is no guarantee that if you pass on one home another will crop up in your price range. That’s a lot of pressure.

Here are a few things to ask yourself before you submit an offer:

• Is this home comfortably within your price range? There’s no point in looking at $350,000 homes if your budget tops out at $300,000.
• Does the home meet your current and expected needs? You might be infatuated with an adorable house in a prime location. But if it has only two bedrooms and you have three kids with another on the way, it might not be the best fit.
• Can you address potential issues? Before you decide something is a deal breaker, first figure out if it’s something that can be fixed. If you’re turned off by stained carpeting, you might want to consider replacing it with hardwood flooring. Could you afford to add an extra bathroom to a home that you liked? Can a bonus room be partitioned off to create a dedicated home office?
• Is the location right for you? It’s typically cheaper to move farther out, and with high home prices and mortgage rates, you’ll likely want to be saving every dollar you can. But you also want to ensure that you still have a reasonable commute to work, you’re in an area with the amenities you want like shops and entertainment, and you’re comfortable enrolling your children (if you have them) in the local school district.
• Is this a home you can see yourself happily living in? This last one is a gut check. How did you feel when you walked inside? Were you excited about the prospect of hosting big family dinners there? Could you picture the kids opening presents in the living room? Or did you dread the thought of waking up here each day?

As you embark on your homebuying journey, forget about love at first sight. The right home often comes down to the right price, and what you’re looking for might change as you tour more properties.

Putting in an offer is a nerve-wracking decision for just about everyone, even if you’re 99.9% positive that this is the right home for you. And in today’s market, finding The One will likely require a little bit of luck and a whole lot of faith.

The post On the House: How To Be Certain That You’ve Found The One appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.