How many times should you view a home before you bid?
Two viewings is the norm: one for the overall impression, one to test it with measurements, questions and a different time of day. A third visit only makes sense if you have a specific question it can answer.
Short answer: Two viewings cover most home purchases: the first for the overall impression, the second to test it with measurements, with questions based on the paperwork, and at a different time of day. A third viewing is only worth the time if you can write down beforehand which question it's meant to answer — otherwise you're just repeating viewing number two with more enthusiasm. If you bring a measured floor plan home from the first viewing, many questions can be answered at home instead of at yet another appointment.
Every viewing has its own job
Most people assume more viewings mean more certainty. They only do if each viewing has a different job from the one before it. If viewing number three ends up being a repeat of number two, you don't learn anything new — you just get more attached, and being attached isn't information.
- First viewing: overall impression. Can I see myself living here? How do the rooms relate to each other? What does it smell and sound like? Feel free to capture the geometry with a scan or a few measurements, but decide nothing.
- Second viewing: testing it. Measurements, systems, everyday routes through the home, questions built on the property's paperwork — condition and energy reports and the officially registered areas — and a different time of day, so you see the light and the traffic at the other end of the clock.
- Third viewing (if there's to be one): one specific question. "Can the partition wall be removed, and what does the surveyor say when she's standing there?" or "What's the light like in the kitchen at 5pm in October?" Write the question down before you ask for the visit.
When one viewing is enough
One viewing can be enough if three things hold: you already know the area and have been on the street at different times, the home is new or newly renovated so there are few technical unknowns, and you got enough measurements or a scan to be able to plan the layout from home. If all three hold, a second viewing rarely adds more than confirmation.
If even one of them doesn't hold — especially if the home is older, or if you don't know the street — a second viewing is the cheapest thing you can do in the whole process.
When you need more than two
- When something needs rebuilding. If a wall is to come down or a bathroom is to be moved, that calls for a visit with a professional. No one — neither the estate agent nor an app — can determine whether a wall is load-bearing; that takes a surveyor or engineer who looks at the structure.
- When light matters to you. The sun moves a great deal over the course of a year. One more visit at a different time of day is one way to check it; working out the sunlight on a model is another, faster one.
- When two people need to agree. If one of you has seen the home twice and the other zero times, that's not two viewings — it's two different processes. Make sure you've both seen what the decision is being made on.
- When you're torn between two homes. A repeat visit to the older of the two is then almost always worth it — you can't compare a fresh impression with one that's three weeks old.
What doesn't get clearer with more visits
Three things don't get any clearer from standing in the home again: the floor area, the technical details in the property's paperwork, and the finances. Those need to be worked through at home, at a desk, with the paperwork, a floor plan and a calculator. Spend a viewing on them, and you've spent half an hour on something you could have done in ten minutes on the sofa.
The other way round, four things only get clearer by being there: sound, smell, light and the everyday routes through the home. Plan your viewings around that — spend the time in the home on what can only be experienced, and the time at home on what can be calculated.
How to make a viewing unnecessary
The most effective way to cut out a viewing is to bring the home's geometry home the first time. Scan the rooms with the iPhone's LiDAR — after asking the estate agent for permission — and HouseSense gives you a measured floor plan with area and ceiling height per room, the doors' actual position in the walls, and the projections and alcoves the eye tends to smooth away. Then you can answer "will the sofa fit there?", "how wide is the hallway, really?" and "how big is the bathroom compared with the other house?" from home, instead of asking for another appointment.
The 3D model works out the sunlight from the home's location and orientation, so the question "what's the light like in November?" doesn't require you to wait until November. If something needs redoing, the takeoff can be sent to a contractor, so a quote is priced on measurements rather than a guess. And you can draw the home on graph paper with your finger if you weren't allowed to scan. Everything lives in your own iCloud; there's no account and no server.
The rule of thumb
View the home twice, at two different times of day, with two different purposes. Bring measurements home the first time. Write down a specific question before you ask for a third visit — if you can't put the question into words, the answer is that you don't need another visit, you need a decision.