Prioritising your home requirements: how to find the right compromises

It is the home with the beautiful kitchen, where you suddenly forget that the journey to work takes an hour. Or the house with the big garden, where your finances become so tight that there is no room to use it.

A prioritised list of requirements helps you hold on to the everyday life the home has to work for. It does not make the decision emotionless. It simply makes sure your feelings do not stand alone.

Divide your requirements into three groups:

1. Must-haves

2. Important wishes

3. Possible compromises

Then use the list on the property portals, during screening and at the viewing.

In brief

• Start with your finances and everyday life before you start with style.
• Must-haves need a concrete reason.
• Distinguish between what you cannot change and what you might be able to change later.
• Something can be physically possible to change and still be too expensive or not permitted.
• If you are buying together, each make your own list first.
• Agree on compromises in advance, not in the middle of a bidding round.
• Apply the list in the same way to every home, so the comparison becomes more honest.
• Update the list when the market teaches you something, but do not move every limit for each new listing.

The three categories

Must-haves

These are conditions that must be met for the home to work.

Examples:

• Your finances stay within the budget
• The home has room for the household
• Access works with a wheelchair or pushchair
• The commute can work on ordinary weekdays
• The type of home is permitted for the use you need

Ideally, a must-have can be explained in one sentence.

Example: We need three genuine bedrooms, because two children will need to sleep separately within a few years.

That is stronger than: We would prefer at least three rooms.

Important wishes

These are features that make the home better but do not on their own decide whether it can work.

Examples:

• Balcony
• Garden
• Extra bathroom
• A particular style of architecture
• Open-plan kitchen and living area
• Fireplace
• View
• Home office

A wish is allowed to be important. The category simply means you can consider alternatives.

Possible compromises

These are the trade-offs you can live with if other conditions are met.

Examples:

• Smaller garden in exchange for a shorter commute
• Older kitchen in exchange for a lower price
• Fewer square metres in exchange for a better layout
• Neighbouring area in exchange for an extra room
• No private parking in exchange for good public transport

A compromise works best when you know what you get in return.

Your finances are not a wish

Your price range should not sit at the bottom of the list between a balcony and herringbone flooring.

It should be based on:

• Savings and down payment (udbetaling)
• Transaction costs (handelsomkostninger)
• The bank's specific assessment
• Disposable income (rådighedsbeløb)
• Debt
• Expected owner costs (ejerudgift)
• Transport
• Maintenance
• Any renovation

Read the guides on your purchase budget and disposable income before you set the price filter.

The debt-to-income ratio (gældsfaktor) can form part of the bank's assessment, but it is not a universal pricing formula. Read more in the guide on the debt-to-income ratio when buying a home.

Also set a separate ceiling for work after the handover. A home at 3.000.000 kr. with 500.000 kr. of necessary work is not the same decision as a move-in-ready home at 3.000.000 kr.

Start with what you cannot move

Some features come with the home:

• Location
• Plot
• Orientation to the sun
• Traffic and railway
• Distance to neighbours
• Floor level
• View
• Plans for the area

They should be assessed early, because they cannot be fixed with paint or a new kitchen.

Read the guide on researching the area before buying a home and the guide on transport options.

If children are part of everyday life, schools and childcare can be a requirement in its own right rather than a note under the area.

Changeable does not always mean easy to change

An older kitchen can be replaced. But also ask:

• What will it cost?
• When can it happen?
• Can your finances accommodate it after the purchase?
• Can you live with it until then?
• Does the change require permission?
• Does it affect structures or installations?

The same applies to extra rooms, bathrooms, extensions and roof terraces.

An extra room can look easy on the floor plan and still require daylight, ventilation, an escape route or changes to load-bearing structures. An extension can be restricted by the local plan (lokalplan), easements (servitutter) or the permitted plot ratio (bebyggelsesprocent).

Read the guide on local plans and building regulations before a building option becomes a necessary argument for buying the home.

Everyday life has to fit

Home requirements are not only about rooms.

Think through an ordinary Tuesday:

• Who gets up first?
• Where do you work?
• Who drops off the children?
• Where do the bikes and pushchair go?
• Where is the laundry dried?
• Where do you shop?
• When do you need the car?
• Where do you work from home?
• Where can you be alone?

This exercise often reveals requirements that do not appear in the pictures of the dream home.

A large open-plan kitchen and living area may, for example, matter less than an entrance hall that can hold shoes, bags and wet outdoor clothing.

Think in periods, not the rest of your life

You do not need to find a home that solves every conceivable need forever.

But you should consider the period you realistically expect to live there.

Think about things such as:

• Changes in the household
• Working from home
• Changing jobs
• School and childcare
• Mobility
• Need for a car
• Maintenance
• Plans to rent out or sell

Write down which changes are likely and which are merely possible.

If you turn every hypothetical need into a must-have, the list can become so heavy that no home can pass it.

When you are buying together

Two people can mean the same thing in completely different words.

One says garden and means space for the children. The other says short commute and means more time with the family.

So start by each making your own list without negotiating.

For each requirement, write down:

• What do I want?
• Why does it matter?
• What am I afraid of losing?
• What alternative could meet the same need?

Then compare the reasons.

The goal is not for one person to win. The goal is to understand which needs the home has to meet for both of you.

How to make your list of requirements

Step 1: Write everything down

Include every wish to begin with. No sorting yet.

Step 2: Find the reason

Write down why each requirement matters.

Step 3: Mark the financial and practical limits

Price, transport, access and space all have to fit with everyday life.

Step 4: Divide the requirements into three categories

Use must-haves, important wishes and possible compromises.

Step 5: Test the must-haves

Ask of each requirement:

• What happens if it is not met?
• Can the need be met in another way?
• Is the requirement concrete enough to check?
• Is it my requirement or something I have seen others want?

Step 6: Agree on trade-offs

Describe what could make up for a compromise.

Example: We can accept a longer commute if the home is cheap enough that we do not need a car.

How many requirements should the list have

A very short list can be too vague. A very long list can make every home unsuitable.

What matters is not the number but the quality.

A good must-have is:

• Concrete
• Justified
• Possible to check
• Relevant to everyday life
• Separate from the solution

The requirement ‘quiet for working from home’ is, for example, broader than the requirement ‘a separate office’. A flexible layout might meet the need.

Make compromise packages

Individual compromises can feel like losses. Packages make the trade-off clear.

Package A: More city

• Smaller home
• Short commute
• Less need for a car
• More life outside the home

Package B: More space

• Longer commute
• Larger home
• More maintenance
• Possible need for a car

Package C: More of a project

• Lower purchase price
• Need for renovation
• More uncertainty about time and cost
• Opportunity to shape the home

No package is best in itself. It has to suit your time, finances and energy.

Use the list on the property portals

Translate the must-haves into filters where it makes sense:

• Price
• Area
• Type of home
• Rooms
• Size

Do not filter on anything that requires human judgement. A good layout, peace and quiet and room to work from home can rarely be decided by a single filter.

Read the guide on property portals and search alerts to build several searches around different compromises. You can also compare prices per square metre in the areas you are considering (in Danish).

Use the list when screening

When you open a listing, you can ask four questions:

1. Which must-haves appear to be met?
2. Which cannot be determined yet?
3. Which wishes make the home stand out?
4. Which compromises does it require?

Write down unknowns as questions. Do not guess.

Use the guide on screening a home and red flags for documents, price and history.

Use the list at the viewing

Bring a short version.

Look especially at what the photos do not show:

• Noise
• Light
• Layout
• Access
• Storage
• Room sizes
• The area
• Visible condition

Do not just tick boxes. Write down how the home meets the need.

Requirement: Room to work from home.

Observation: Small room with a door, daylight and space for a desk.

That is more useful than yes or no.

Read the checklist for viewings when buying a home.

Update the list without chasing the market

Your home search teaches you things.

Perhaps you discover that:

• The neighbouring area works better than expected
• A particular number of square metres is not necessary
• A good layout can replace an extra room
• Renovation takes more energy than you have
• Transport matters more than the garden

Update the list at a set time, for example after several screenings or viewings. Avoid changing it in the middle of your excitement over one home.

Also write down why a requirement changes. Then you can tell the difference between learning and infatuation in the moment.

Example of a prioritised list

Complete template

Must-haves

Important wishes

Possible compromises

Common mistakes

Everything becomes a must-have

If every wish is non-negotiable, the list stops being a prioritisation tool.

The look of the home outweighs everyday life

The kitchen and colours are visible. Transport, storage and financial breathing room are felt every day.

You use the same words for different needs

Ask why the requirement matters. That often opens up more solutions.

You assume everything can be renovated

Time, money, structures and regulations can limit the changes.

The list changes with every listing

Then it becomes a justification for why the current home has to work, instead of a tool for assessing it.

You only think about today

A home does not have to solve your whole life, but it should suit the period you expect to live there.

In summary

The right list of requirements starts from your life.

It tells you what your everyday life needs from the home.

Start with your finances and everyday life. Protect what you cannot change. Be honest about the time and money renovation takes. Agree on the compromises before you are in the middle of them.

Once the list is ready, you can turn it into filters and search alerts using the guide on property portals.

BoligKlar gives you a second pair of eyes and an overview. You decide for yourself which requirements and compromises suit your home purchase.

Frequently asked questions