Which house should I buy?
Two houses, one offer to make, and usually a deadline. One is move-in ready. The other is in the better street and needs work. Both have something you love, and the agent wants an answer by Friday.
A decision matrix is fast enough for that deadline. Weigh the factors, score both houses, and see which one wins and by how much. A small margin tells you to negotiate. A big one tells you to move.
Open the tool with this question filled in. Two to five minutes, no account.
Start this decisionWhat should you weigh?
Five factors cover most versions of this decision. Rename them, drop the ones that do not apply, and add your own. Phrase each so a higher score is always better.
- Affordability
- Price plus the repair budget you would need in the first two years.
- Location
- Commute, schools, and the street itself. You cannot renovate this later.
- Condition
- Roof, wiring, damp, and the survey's list of problems.
- Space
- Bedrooms, storage, garden, and room to grow.
- Resale potential
- How the area is trending and how easy the house would be to sell.
What does it look like worked out?
Two houses: an updated house on an average street, and a fixer-upper in a better area. Weights run 1 to 10, scores 1 to 5.
| Factor | Weight | Updated house | Fixer-upper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Affordability | 9 | 3 | 3 |
| Location | 7 | 3 | 5 |
| Condition | 6 | 5 | 2 |
| Space | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| Resale potential | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Total | 96 | 100 |
Each total is score times weight, added down the column.
Fixer-upper wins by 4 points. The fixer-upper wins narrowly. Once repair costs are counted, the two cost about the same, so the choice comes down to location against condition. Location wins at these weights.
Change the weight on condition from 6 to 9, keep every score the same, and Updated house wins instead, 111 to 106. The options did not change. One judgement about what matters did.
Where do people go wrong?
Scoring price without repairs. A cheaper fixer-upper is only cheaper until the survey comes back. Put the repair estimate into affordability.
Scoring during the viewing. Staging and a sunny afternoon push every score up. Score that evening, with the listing and survey in front of you.
Common questions
- Should I buy the better house or the better location?
- Weigh both. Location is permanent and condition can be fixed for a price, so put that price in affordability and let the totals decide.
- What if both houses score the same?
- Look at which rows separate them. A tie also gives you room to negotiate on either one.
Ready to weigh your own?
The question and starter options come filled in. Change anything. AI suggests factors; the answer comes only from your weights and scores.
Start this decision