How to Know When a Home Is “The One”

You might have heard that saying about the number of fish in the sea – the sea of prospective dates and mates. The same goes for homes on the market. Even when the market heats up, as it’s doing now, it’s not uncommon for a buyer to visit 10, 20, or even more homes before finding the property they want to make their home.

These numbers can be daunting, but even the most particular buyers, even buyers who are frustrated by how many homes don’t seem like the right fit, can take heart in this one truth of dating that also applies to house hunting: You only need to find ONE.

So the next question is this: how do you know which home is the one you should take home – I mean, make your home? Here are six signs that a given home you’re viewing might in fact be “The One.”

1. You Instantly Feel Possessive About the Property

When you walk into 'The One,' no matter how long you’ve been house hunting, you’ll get an involuntary surge of energy to do whatever it takes to make that home yours.

If you’re at an Open House and other buyers are viewing the place, you’ll start to feel competitive.
If you’re at a private viewing, you’ll start to talk numbers and offer logistics.
Some buyers start making calls to financial planners, generous parents, and contractors from the front porch steps of their "One" – during the first viewing!

If you walk through a place and leave with your heart or mind set on making it yours, it might be "The One."

2. You Start to See Its Flaws as Adorable Quirks

Train tracks 10 feet from the bedroom window? Next-door neighbor that runs a pigeon-sitting service? Okay – I exaggerate!

If you find yourself viewing a home with traits you would normally deem undesirable or as deal-killers, yet you like the place so much that you instinctively compile a mental list of reasons those traits just don’t matter, you might have found "The One."

Watch out for “Pottery Barn Psychosis.”

This occurs when the aesthetics of a wonderfully staged home hypnotize a buyer.
It can render buyers blind to negative property features that would normally be deal-breakers.

Smart buyers can avoid this by:

Writing down absolute musts and deal-breakers before stepping foot in any property.
Revisiting this document before making an offer and again before removing contingencies.

3. You Immediately Envision Your Family, Furniture, Decor, or Remodeling Choices

If you find yourself:

Measuring the dining room with your footsteps to be sure your Grandma's table will fit
Discussing whether a wall can be removed
Mentally inserting your furniture and wall hangings into the home

…it’s entirely possible that the home you’re viewing could be "The One" for you.

4. You Lose Interest in Seeing Other Homes

When you find "The One," your interest in seeing other homes dissipates instantly – no matter how many homes you’ve seen or how long you’ve been house hunting.

5. The Bathroom and Kitchen Don’t Disgust You

We humans are born with only two fears: the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. By about eight months old, we start to acquire new fears – chief among them: the fear of other people’s kitchens and bathrooms.

Other people’s kitchens and bathrooms hold definite gross-out potential. There’s something about what goes on in those rooms that seems exceptionally intimate and even unsanitary.

If you find yourself falling in love with a home’s:

River rock shower floor
Pot-filler
Countertop or farmhouse sink

…that’s a sign you’re falling head over heels with a home that might just be "The One."

6. The Money, Time, and Energy Spent Feels Worth It

Home buying is an expensive, time-consuming proposition. Your years of budgeting and saving didn’t come easy.

If you view a home that makes all those sacrifices suddenly feel like the best, most worthwhile decision ever, you, my friend, might have found "The One."