Free house and apartment hunting template

Eight viewings blur within a week. Price and floor area go in a spreadsheet fine. The reasons people actually decide have no column, so they get lost.

Use this template free Free, no account, opens in your browser.

Main focusHouse huntingBranchMust have and nice to haveThoughtPlaces seenBranchWhat the spreadsheet missesThoughtWhat it really costs monthly

Built from the same cards and connections you edit inside HeadTidy.

What’s included

A must have and nice to have card, written before the first viewing
A comparison table with price, rooms, commute and a verdict
A second table for light, noise, neighbours and gut feeling
A true monthly cost list that includes the commute in hours as well as money
A question checklist to run at every viewing

Write the must haves before you fall for a kitchen

Requirements written after a viewing are requirements shaped by that viewing. Fix them first: the number of rooms, the maximum commute, the things that would make you leave in a year. It is the only defence against talking yourself into a place that is beautiful and wrong.

Record the things that decide it

People choose a home on light at four in the afternoon, the stairwell, whether the street is quiet on a Friday night, and how the place felt after ten minutes. None of that survives a spreadsheet, so the second table gives it columns of its own. Fill it in the car outside, not three days later.

Compare the true monthly cost

Rent or mortgage is the smaller half of the question. Heating, building fees, parking, insurance, local taxes and the commute, priced in both money and hours, routinely change the ranking of two places that looked identical on price.

Worked example

Two flats are within a few hundred of each other. Adding heating, a building fee and a commute that is forty minutes longer each way makes the cheaper one more expensive and costs six hours a week. The listing price was the least useful number on the page.

How to use this template

Start
Write the must haves and the deal breakers before the first viewing.
Sort
After each viewing, fill both tables while it is still fresh.
Move
Compare true monthly cost, not listing price, before shortlisting.

Frequently asked questions

What should I compare when apartment hunting?

Price, rooms and commute, plus the true monthly cost including utilities, building fees, parking and insurance. Record light, noise, neighbours and your immediate impression as well, because those are what most decisions actually turn on.

What should I ask at a viewing?

What the heating costs in winter, who lives above and below, when the wiring, roof and pipes were last done, what stays with the place, how long it has been listed and why they are leaving.

Can two people use the same comparison?

Yes. Both can fill in the gut feeling column separately, which surfaces disagreement early rather than after an offer has been made.