A listing can tell you a lot.

Square footage.

Bedrooms.

Bathrooms.

Lot size.

Year built.

Garage spaces.

Maybe even whether the kitchen has an island large enough to host Thanksgiving dinner.

But a listing can’t tell you everything.

It can’t tell you whether you’ll love the sound of rain on the roof.

Whether your dog will spend hours watching squirrels from the window.

Whether the morning sunlight will hit your kitchen just right.

Whether your neighbor will become a friend.

Or whether the house will eventually produce a bizarre story you’ll still be telling five years later.

That’s why choosing a home requires looking beyond the listing.

What Does Your Tuesday Look Like?

This is one of the most useful questions you can ask when looking at a property.

Forget the perfectly staged Sunday afternoon.

Imagine Tuesday.

You wake up.

You make coffee.

You get everyone where they need to go.

You go to work.

You come home.

You make dinner.

You walk the dog.

Maybe you run an errand.

Maybe you go to the gym.

Maybe you don’t, because it’s Tuesday and you have officially decided that tomorrow is a better day to become the person who goes to the gym.

Does the location work?

Does the layout work?

Does the commute work?

Does the neighborhood work?

That’s your real life.

Look at the Boring Stuff

The glamorous things are easy to notice.

Kitchen.

Primary suite.

Fireplace.

Backyard.

But don’t ignore:

• Storage
• Closets
• Laundry location
• Garage access
• Basement condition
• Exterior maintenance
• Heating and cooling
• Windows
• Roof
• Drainage
• Driveway
• Utility access

Boring doesn’t mean unimportant.

In fact, boring is often where the important stuff lives.

Listen to the House

When you’re viewing a home, stop talking for a minute.

Seriously.

Just listen.

Do you hear traffic?

HVAC?

Water?

Neighbors?

Nothing?

Sometimes silence tells you something.

Sometimes noise does too.

Look at the Neighborhood, Not Just the Property

Walk around if appropriate.

Drive around.

Look at nearby homes.

Think about parking.

Think about traffic.

Think about where you’d walk your dog.

Think about where your kids might ride bikes.

Think about what the area could look like in five years.

Your home exists inside a neighborhood.

Don’t forget to evaluate the neighborhood as carefully as you evaluate the kitchen.

Don’t Be Afraid to Walk Away

This is perhaps the hardest part of house hunting.

Sometimes you really want a house.

Then you discover something that doesn’t work.

Maybe the commute is too long.

Maybe the layout isn’t right.

Maybe the maintenance is more than you want.

Maybe the neighborhood isn’t the right fit.

Maybe your budget doesn’t make sense for the property.

Walking away doesn’t mean you failed.

It means you learned something.

Every house you see helps you understand what you actually want.

And Have a Little Fun With It

Real estate can be serious.

There are contracts.

Inspections.

Deadlines.

Financing.

Negotiations.

Lots of paperwork.

But buying a home is also one of the biggest life experiences many people will ever have.

You should be allowed to enjoy it.

Laugh when the staging gets weird.

Ask questions.

Open the closet.

Look behind the door.

Explore the basement.

Take your time.

And when something completely unexpected happens?

Well…

Hopefully your agent is the type of person who doesn’t disappear.

Hopefully she’s the type who rolls up her sleeves, figures it out, and—if necessary—is willing to stick her arm into a suspicious hole for a rat.

Because sometimes that’s what being a good real estate agent actually means.

Not just knowing the market.

Not just knowing the paperwork.

But being willing to show up.