Purchasing a home in a market as quick and fast moving as San Diego can be tough, and the number of San Diego real estate listings can easily be overwhelming. Sorting through these isn’t easy, and it helps to have a plan to tackle the options available.

Understand the Requirements

A buyer is going to have a very tough time if they don’t fully understand what they’re looking for. Most home buyers make a list of what features they want and consider themselves done. This may work in some areas, but in this region, that is likely not going to lead to a fruitful search. The first thing to determine is the budget. The budget needs to be solid before any further research, there are few things more heartbreaking in a search for a home than finding the perfect place, and it’s just out of reach.

Unfortunately, some people then adjust the budget and end up in unpleasant circumstance, being house poor and having to work extra or go without just to afford the mortgage. One should determine the maximum amount they want to pay, no matter what. Then, it’s on to features. The buyer should determine what elements are critical and which ones are ‘nice to have.’ It may be helpful to rank or assign point values to the latter to allow a more objective comparison between properties.

Cast a Wide Net

Once one has a solid budget, a list of the requirements and a list of the features that would be nice, it’s time to start the search. They should search in every area they are interested in the region and filter on price, setting their targets at their budget, with the ‘must have’ features as a secondary filter. Assuming that the budget is reasonable and the feature list isn’t too extensive, this will likely return a large number of San Diego real estate listings.

Filter and Filter Again

Now it’s time to begin the filtering process. If the list is on the smaller side, it may be worthwhile to start adding up the optional features and assigning scores to the houses; this should quickly lead to a ranked list where the final half or more can be ignored or left as last resorts. If the list is more extensive, it is probably going to be more efficient to go at the list with the intent to take larger chunks out. This may be best achieved by finding the highest ranked optional feature and removing from the list any properties that don’t have that feature. This can be repeated down the feature list and should quickly reduce the property list to a more manageable size.