Price & total cost
Score total cost of ownership — taxes, HOA, insurance, the roof the inspector politely mentioned — not the listing price. The listing price is the cover of the book.
Decision guide
Deciding on a home
The biggest purchase deserves more than a gut walkthrough.
Buy, keep renting, or pick between houses with a weighted decision matrix: price reality, location, condition, layout, and resale — plus the flip point that shows what would change your mind.
The decision, weighed
A typical should i buy this place? matrix, scored and totaled. The line under it is the part nobody does by hand: the exact weight change that would flip the winner.
CriterionWeightCharming fixerBland turnkeyKeep renting
Price & total cost9768
Location & commute8867
Condition & renovation risk7499
Layout & livability6665
Outdoor space & light4856
Resale & flexibility5764
Weighted total66%64%68%
Keep renting wins at 68%. Lower Condition & renovation risk by 2 points and Charming fixer wins instead.
The weights worth arguing about
Condition & renovation risk
Everyone underestimates renovation by a factor of two on cost and three on time. Score your appetite for living in a construction site, because you will.
Resale & flexibility
Life changes faster than mortgages. Weight this by how sure you are about the next five years — and if you're very sure, add a point of doubt anyway.
How to actually decide
Score the street, not the staging
Walkthroughs are theater: fresh paint, rented furniture, cookies. The things you can't change — street noise, light angle, the neighbor's situation — deserve the highest scores' attention. Visit at 8am and 10pm before scoring 'location'.
Let 'keep renting' compete fairly
Buying pressure makes renting look like failure. It's an option with real numbers: flexibility, zero maintenance, invested down payment. If renting wins your matrix, that's not settling — that's the answer the weights gave you.
Find the flip point before you negotiate
If the verdict flips when 'price' drops one point, you have your negotiation strategy: the house is worth fighting for at a discount, not at asking. The flip point is the most honest number in the whole purchase.
Questions people actually ask
Should emotion get its own criterion?
Yes — call it what it is. 'I can picture Sunday mornings here' is a real input. Hiding it inside 'layout' corrupts two criteria. Giving it a weight of 3-4 lets it speak without letting it shout.
How do I compare houses at different prices?
Score each house independently against 'price & total cost' rather than ranking them against each other. A 9-price house that scores low everywhere else should lose — that's the matrix catching the 'but it's such a deal!' trap.
What about interest rates?
Rates live inside 'price & total cost' as a scoring input, not a separate criterion — they change the number, not what you value. Re-score that one criterion when rates move and watch the verdict.