Genuinely thought I was losing my mind around viewing number six. Couldn't remember if it was the third or fourth one that had the dodgy boiler, or which one had the garden that backed onto the main road.
What eventually saved my sanity was just making a simple scoring sheet — nothing fancy, a notes page on my phone at first, then a proper spreadsheet. Scored each property across the things that actually mattered to us: location, how much work it needed, garden, natural light, room sizes. Out of five for each. Looked at it the next morning with fresh eyes.
A few other things that genuinely helped:
- Write down your non-negotiables BEFORE each viewing, not after
- Score it the moment you get back to the car, not that evening
- Separate what's fixable from what's actually a problem
- If buying with a partner, score independently then compare
We didn't always go for the highest scoring one in the end — there's still a gut/heart element to it. But it stopped us making panicked decisions.
Anyone else have a system that helped them stay sane during the viewing process?