Over the last few years, I’ve had to move more times than I care to think about. As of late, it’s gotten even more complicated because I have to do it with a baby.

I find this process to be exhausting. It is just so tiring.

Whether you use any of the dozens of online portals to find a great apartment, or even a locator/agent, finding a place is tiring.

During my search for a move in 2025, my locator (who is meant to guide me in picking a great neighborhood and property) gave me a shortlist of 100+ properties!

Aside: I’ve written an article about why these “free” locators/real estate agents cost you more than you know right here. Check it out!

I suppose it was better than the 15,811 search results that Zillow gave me!

This brings me to one of the most frustrating parts of finding a place: choices.

In most parts of life, choices are amazing. It’s great to choose from having multiple jobs offers on the table. Or vacation destinations. Or restaurants that you love. Or plans for the weekend.

When it comes to finding a home, more choices are not a good bet.

Lack of Time

The more homes you have to go through, the more time it will take. With thousands (or even a shortlist of hundreds), expect to spend 5-10 minutes at the minimum to cross off each and every entry.

You can add filters into the mix, but that just creates more confusion because now you’re left with 80 properties out of 100 that all “fit the criteria”.

It’s no wonder than it takes minimum 20 hours to find a great rental. If you’re in a relationship, have a family, etc, it takes significantly more.

What is your time worth?

Mental Strain

Time is one thing, but the mental strain is another. You have to juggle all these options and somehow choose a few places that makes sense.

For me, I didn’t know what to believe. Are the Google reviews any good? Are they accurate?

There’s a new management looking after the property. What does that mean?

Is this neighborhood better, or will the other neighborhood be better because my kids like being near a library?

It takes so much time to think it through.

Fear of Missing Out

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve moved to a place and then found something better. It usually happens a week or so after moving. We would be driving around and find a property that just feels a lot better.

The property might even have the “For lease” sign in front of it.

Of course sometimes it didn’t show up because the owner is putting it up themselves. Or perhaps my locator did not include it because they wouldn’t get a commission out of guiding us towards this property.

Regret of Choosing Badly

This regret is not much, but it claws at me at times.

It happens a few weeks into living there. I remember the first time we moved to Dallas. We had chosen a gorgeous property that was only 1-2 years old. It had a lake in the center. The gorgeous club house and amenities won us over. And the apartment itself wasn’t too shabby either.

And then a week after moving we got them.

Cockroaches!

Every week, there would be some.

Unfortunately, I was always the one who would spot them in the middle of the night when I would get up to use the bathroom.

These cockroaches became the bane of our existence at that apartment. And I regretted greatly never looking at the Google reviews before picking the place.

What’s the alternative?

I’ve found that most people simply don’t know what they’re looking for. They are trying to be realistic. They have a “I’ll know it when I see it” kind of mentality.

But in reality, here’s what I’ve found.

Know your Ideal

Yes, I mean ideal. I know that’s a high mark to cross. But you will be surprised how close you can get to the ideal.

Now, I don’t mean geographical things that you can’t expect. Don’t expect beachfront property in a landlocked city.

But you absolutely should think about the lifestyle you want. The social life, the amenities, the vibe and feel of the neighborhood. All of that matters very much.

Think about how you want your home to feel like. Is it airy? Filled with sunlight? High ceilings? Brick interior?

Your ideal makes a difference.

There’s a reason why we ask you 24 questions (and 1/3rd of them are open ended) when you use Home Scout Advisor to create a report for you.

24 questions to understand what you’re looking for. You can fill it out in 5 minutes, or you can take up to 1 hour to fill it out.

These questions helps you clarify what you actually want. It sets a criteria we are aiming for.

With a strong criteria, filtering things down for 10,000 or even 100 properties down to 5-10 becomes extremely easy.

Start with Neighborhoods

People start to look for properties by having a general idea of where to live in. But they don’t factor in the general vibe of the neighborhood all that much.

It turns out that every few blocks, the vibe of the neighborhood is different. The feel of an area can be completely different just one street over. I’ve seen it firsthand.

That’s why on our kick-off call, we talk through your ideal above and talk about neighborhoods. We want you to get as close to your ideal living situation as possible.

We show you pictures, videos, and more to help you understand what options you have.

It helps you refine or adjust your criteria and ideal.

We don’t move forward until that is done.

Act!

When you have a strong vision of what your ideal is, and you’ve had a more holistic understanding of your options, our shortlist makes it trivially easy to pick the right place.

Without FOMO. Without regrets. With confidence.

Oh, and dozens upon dozens of hours saved!

I wish someone had given this to me.

That’s why Home Scout Advisor exists. I’m not an agent. I am a renter, like you. I have been through so much hassle and gotten the failed promises of agents and locators who would not show me things where they wouldn’t get commissions and give me all the heavy lifting to do anyways.

If you’re interested in how Home Scout Advisor works, you can learn more below.

But the TL;DR version of it is simple: We work for you, not the property. We don’t get commissions from anyone, nor are we a high volume business where we give you the bulk of the work to do.