What I Notice When I Walk Into a House (And It’s Probably Not What You Think)
After walking through enough homes, you start to see them differently.
My buyer clients sometimes laugh because while they’re falling in love with a house, I’m usually walking behind them pointing things out. I can almost hear them thinking, “Are you trying to sell me this house or not?”
But that’s kind of the point. My job isn’t to convince someone to buy a house. It’s to help them understand what they’re buying.
As both a real estate agent and an investor, I tend to look at things a little differently.
The things you can’t easily change
I’m looking at the location, the lot, natural light, the layout, how the house sits on the property and whether the rooms make sense together.
Paint can be changed. So can dated fixtures. Even a kitchen that hasn’t been touched since 1987 might have more potential than you think.
A difficult location or a layout that requires major construction is a different story.
Looking past the cosmetics
This is where my investor brain usually kicks in. While everyone else is looking at the dated cabinets, I’m doing the math in my head and figuring out what it would actually cost to change them.
Sometimes something that gets a big reaction from a buyer is actually a pretty simple fix. Meanwhile, the expensive stuff can be quietly sitting there minding its own business.
I’m always trying to see the house for what it is, not just what it looks like that day.
The not-so-glamorous stuff
I’m also looking at mechanicals, gutters, drainage and signs of water intrusion. And yes, I will walk around the backyard to see if the ground feels unusually wet. Glamorous, I know.
I’m not an inspector, but I’ve learned to pay attention to the things that don’t make it into the listing photos and can matter a whole lot more than the countertops.
How the house actually feels
I’ve walked through 3,000-square-foot homes that somehow feel smaller than they should, and 1,800-square-foot homes that live beautifully.
I pay attention to flow, light, where people will naturally gather and whether the house just makes sense.
Because you’re not really buying square footage. You’re buying the place where your life is going to happen. Where you’ll start and end your days, spend time with the people you care about, find your own routines and, hopefully, feel completely at home.
That’s the part I never want to lose sight of.
Seeing the potential
This may be my favorite part.
I can walk into a dated house and immediately start moving walls around in my head. It’s a problem. I know.
Maybe we open something up, refinish the floors, paint the cabinets instead of replacing them or finally figure out what to do with that awkward space.
Sometimes it really doesn’t take as much as you think to make a house feel completely different.
And of course, the value
Whether I’m helping a buyer, advising a seller or looking at an investment myself, I always want to know if the numbers make sense.
A home is emotional, but it’s also one of the biggest financial decisions most of us will ever make. You really do have to consider both.
That’s how I approach real estate. I bring the investor side of me, the marketing side of me and, just as importantly, the part of me that understands this isn’t simply a property. It’s going to be someone’s home.
So yes, I may be the agent pointing out a few things you wish I hadn’t noticed.
But if you still love the house after I’ve picked it apart a little?
Then we may really have something.