If you have spent any time at all looking at homes or thinking about owning your own home, you know how difficult it can be to accurately evaluate how “good” a home is. One person might value something like hardwood floors far more than new tile, while others may feel tile is far more versatile than hardwood. Coming up with your own home evaluation form is absolutely vital if you are to judge the plethora of homes you are going to see, as studies have shown that the average home buyer looks at over a dozen homes before making a decision. Let’s look to see what goes into a proper home evaluation form.

To start, make sure you have a space at the top for the complete address and city of the home you’re looking at. It would be a shame to completely fill out a home evaluation only to leave off which home it was you’re looking at.

Next, have a space where you can describe what the home looks like on the outside. Include the style (ranch, duplex, etc.) color and what the outside of the home looks like (shingles, siding). Make sure you include things like a garage and even small things like a doghouse or any interesting landscaping features that might help you make a better decision down the road. Of course, you want to include any major outdoor amenities like a pool or a tool shed.

Before you even head inside the home, you can fill out part of the evaluation based on the information the realtor has given you, such as how many bedrooms the home has, how much square feet it has and the number of bathrooms. You want to leave spaces near each of these for your comments so you can give the home a far more detailed evaluation.

If you can remember, try to record your initial impressions once you walked into a particular room. How does the space make you feel, what sort of decorating ideas immediately jump into your brain? How do you envision your furniture in this space and how do you see the traffic flow working from room to room. This is a lot of information to process, but take your time, buying a home is one of the biggest decisions of your life, you don’t want to rush it.

Take a good look at the walls and flooring in the home. Your realtor probably told you that there was carpet or hardwood flooring in place, but what condition is it in? Are there visible signs of wear and tear? Does it look like any of it will need replacing any time soon?

Also, use your ears when you evaluate a home. Listen to the creaks and groans that you hear since you might be living with them. The same goes for plumbing sounds. Try to leave space on your evaluation form to write all of this down.

Making your own home evaluation form is a necessary part of home shopping and if done right, it can be a valuable tool.