Guide to choosing a home you’ll love

Before you start shopping for a home, it’s important to determine the factors that matter most to you. If you don’t narrow down what you’re looking for, you could waste a lot of time — yours and your agent’s — touring homes that aren’t right for you.

Here are six characteristics to consider when you sit down to make your home-shopping wish list.

Price

To ground yourself in reality, you need to figure out how much home you can afford. The mortgage you can afford depends on many factors, among them your annual income, the size of your down payment, and your monthly debt. Use an affordability calculator to get an estimate of your housing price range.

Housing type

There are many kinds of homes, but the majority fit into one of these broad categories: single-family detached, townhouse, condominium, or co-op.

Each type has upsides and downsides, especially when it comes to privacy and independence. In a single-family home, you'll share no walls with anyone, and your home has its own chunk of land. Along with that independence comes all the responsibility for care and repairs. If you choose a townhouse or townhome, you're also the sole owner, but you'll share common walls, meaning a bit less privacy.

Condos come in many shapes but follow two basic principles: Each owner owns the interior of his or her unit and has a stake in the entire building, and owners pay fees to fund a homeowners association to handle maintaining the common areas and building.

Co-op owners become shareholders in the corporation that owns the entire building, and owners vote on all major decisions, assess dues, and pay the bills.

Neighborhood

Where you live is as important as what you live in — maybe more. You're not just buying a home, you're becoming part of a larger community. What happens outside your door affects  how you live your life, as well as your home's future value.

So how do you decide which neighborhood is right for you? There's affordability, of course, but it's really about the lifestyle you want.

Consider how much access the neighborhood would give you to nearby amenities like stores, restaurants, dog parks, playgrounds, walking paths, and public transportation.

Observe firsthand by spending time in a neighborhood. What's it like on Sunday morning and Friday night? Test the commute, shop for a few groceries, talk to folks in a coffee shop, read the neighborhood blogs. See if it feels like it’s your next neighborhood.

School quality

If you have (or plan to have) children, investigate area schools before you narrow down a location. For-sale home listings typically include information for nearby elementary, middle and high schools. You may be able to find school test scores, extracurricular activities, student population stats, and community reviews and ratings.

Even if you don't have children, good schools can be a sign of a strong community, and may help when you want to sell your home.

Home size and configuration

Do you need a cozy nest or a sprawling compound? You'll have to balance cost — every bedroom and bathroom adds to the price of a house — with convenience. For-sale home listings include the square-foot cost as a point of comparison between homes.

Knowing what's negotiable in your family is also key. Decide whether your new home should have:

• A big yard, or just enough green to grow some tomatoes
• A garage, carport, or street parking
• Its own pool
• A view of the ocean, or an urban village
• A great room, or cozy nooks and crannies
• An in-law suite, or a basement rec room

If a three-car garage or big yard are must-haves, think about what you could trade off. Maybe young children could share a room, or you can live without a breakfast nook.

Knowing what you need vs. what you want will help your real estate agent find a home that fits.

Renovation tolerance

You may find a home that almost matches your vision, but just needs a little work to make it exactly what you want. Some people are willing to sacrifice the time and money to make it happen. But if the idea of plaster dust coating every surface is a recurring nightmare for you, new construction or a recently renovated home might be a better fit.

If you think carefully about what’s really important to you, and know where you’re willing to compromise, you can protect yourself against buyer’s remorse down the line.