What you actually need.

Fifteen minutes, before you tour anything. A list written after you’ve seen a house you love is a list about that house.

Type straight into it, or print it and use a pen — both work.
Everything down first, no filtering. Then sort each one into the two columns.
Buying with someone? Do it separately, then compare. That comparison is where this earns its keep.

1 · Sort it

The test isn’t how strongly you feel — feelings move once you’re standing in a kitchen. It’s whether you could change it after you own the place.

Changeable

Paint, floors, fixtures, landscaping, appliances. Negotiating points, not requirements.

Permanent

Location, lot, commute, light, what’s next door, which schools it feeds. Your real requirements.

2 · Your three permanents

Three. Not eight. If everything is essential then nothing is, and nobody can rule anywhere out for you — which is most of what a good agent does.

3 · Price-test the rest

For anything still called essential, ask the honest question. Some survive it. A specific countertop material almost never does.

The thing	Worth $15,000?
	YN
	YN
	YN
	YN

4 · Ask this about every house

None of these can be changed after closing, and none of them appear in the photographs. Take this with you.

Address

The commute — driven at the hour you’d really drive it

Water: city, or a well?

Sewer, or septic? If septic, how old is the drain field?

Secondary or irrigation water — a share, and does it convey?

HOA? What does it control?

Wind exposure — what’s upwind, what’s farmed nearby?

What’s approved for the empty ground next door?

Noise — road, rail, dogs, neighbours

Which way it faces, and what that means in December

Cell signal, on your own phone, standing inside

Water pressure — turn a tap on. Nobody does this.

Drive past once at night and once on a weekday morning. A house you saw at eleven on a Saturday is a house you haven’t seen.

Your answers stay on this device. Nothing here is sent anywhere unless you press the button yourself — there’s no account and nothing is recorded in the background. Clearing your browser data clears this too, so print a copy if it matters.

Why send me the three? It tells me which areas to show you and, more usefully, which to rule out before you waste a Saturday on them. No charge, no obligation, and I’m not going to start calling you.

Cecil Hawthorne, REALTOR® · Utah License #319617-SA00 · Sun Key Realty LLC · 801-870-6509 · cecil.hawthorne.realtor@gmail.com

A planning tool, not legal, tax or inspection advice. Property characteristics including water rights, septic systems, HOA obligations and planned nearby development must be verified independently through the county, the relevant district and a licensed inspector.