Touring Like a Pro

Photos sell a mood; a tour is your chance to gather facts. Bring a system so the third house doesn't blur into the sixth. Run water in every bathroom and feel the pressure. Open the electrical panel and look for tidy work. Find the data plates on the HVAC and water heater and photograph them — the age of those systems is future money. Look up at ceilings and down at baseboards for stains, and trust your nose: a musty smell, or one room oddly heavy with air freshener, is information.

Certain things earn a second look: floors that slope toward a corner, doors that won't latch, a freshly painted patch on one section of ceiling, additions that don't match the craftsmanship of the original house, and downspouts that dump water straight at the foundation. None of these is automatically a deal-breaker — they are questions for your inspector, written down while you still remember them.

Before you pull out of the driveway, note three things you liked and three you want answered. That sixty-second habit is what separates an organized buyer from a nostalgic one.