Before we made an offer on our first place, I spent a few months reading Progres Real to follow what was really happening in our area. Then we started visiting houses, and that was where the real education happened.

The first lesson was about timing. We went back to a house we liked at seven in the evening and found the street jammed with cars, a horn going somewhere and a dog barking at everyone passing. Nobody mentioned that at the quiet afternoon viewing. After that we always tried a second visit, either early morning or after work, just to see what the street does when everyone is home.

Looking past the decoration took practice. I stopped seeing the flowery wallpaper and started asking what was underneath it. We ran the taps to see how the water came out, and opened and shut every window. Then the handles, the locks, the cupboard doors, the shower head. Small things, but each one is a job you are buying along with the kitchen.

Then there is the question I still find the most useful: why are you selling? Some owners tell you straight, a new job in another town, a flat that is too big now the children have gone. Others go vague. The vagueness tells you something too, and it made us look a bit harder at the back room.

I wrote notes after every visit, usually in the car before driving off. A few lines on what we liked, what we had to check, what felt off. By the time we found the house we bought, the visits were all blending together, and those scribbles were the only reason I could still tell them apart.