Paige Towers

My daily use of real estate apps started off as a justifiable act: my husband, Kumar, and I we were in the market for a house after receiving the news that he’d matched for a gastroenterology fellowship in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At the time, we were living in New York City, paying budget-breaking rent for a tiny apartment. Thus, we figured—why not put our money into a small starter home when we move? We wanted a yard for our two little dogs to run around in.

Anyone who has gone through the stress of house hunting knows that it can be a challenge of biblical proportions. Though no home buying experience is the same, Maureen Burns with @Properties in Chicago, Illinois, says the right preparation and mindset can help you find the best property with relatively little stress. From not getting hung up on easily-fixed cosmetic features to researching your desired neighborhoods ahead of time, this list of rules is a good guide for house hunters everywhere.

When I moved to Boston for graduate school several years ago, my first apartment was inside a rundown 150-year-old mansion. The plumbing was shoddy, the bathroom reeked of mildew and the furnace liked to quit during snowstorms, but there was one incredible perk: A Trader Joe’s was only two blocks away. The ease of stopping to pick up a bag of yogurt pretzels and a $4 bottle of Chardonnay on my way home from class almost made the leaky roof worth it.