How do I compare a renovated house with one I would renovate?

Price the work properly, add it to the asking price, and compare the totals along with the months you would spend living in it or paying for somewhere else. Then compare the two again on the fixed list, because the reason to consider the unrenovated one is usually that it is better on something permanent.

Should I compare a condo with a house directly?

Yes, but compare monthly costs and the fixed list rather than price per square foot. They are different products, and the question is which one you want to live in at what monthly number, not which is better value in the abstract.

What if the cheaper one needs work?

Then it is not cheaper until you have a number for the work. Get the number before you offer rather than after.

How many places should be on a shortlist?

Few enough that you can hold the comparison in your head, which in practice means about three to five real candidates. A shortlist of twelve is a saved search, not a shortlist.

How to compare two houses when you like both

Updated September 9, 2026 · 5 minute read

Choosing between houses is a different skill from finding them, and the usual mistake is comparing whatever is easiest to see. A recent kitchen is in the first photo. A bedroom facing a wall, a commute that adds an hour to every weekday, and a lot you cannot build on are not.

Sort everything into fixed and fixable

This is the most useful move available to you and it takes five minutes. Go through both places and put every feature into one of two lists.

Fixed: The location, the street, the noise, which way the windows face, the lot, ceiling height, where the stairs and the load bearing walls are, whether there is a basement worth using, the neighbours. You buy these permanently, and the only way to change them is to move.
Fixable: Kitchens, bathrooms, flooring, paint, light fixtures, landscaping, the state of the appliances, and nearly everything that made the listing photos look good or bad. All of it costs money and time. None of it requires you to move.

Now compare the two houses on the fixed list alone and see whether your ranking changes. It very often does, because staging and photography exist to move the fixable column.

Compare the monthly cost, not the asking price

Two places at the same asking price can differ by hundreds of dollars a month, and the difference is not in the mortgage.

Property tax rates are set by municipality and they differ across the GTA. Toronto's rate is on the low side compared with several of its neighbours, which surprises people comparing a house in the city with one further out.
Condo fees are a fixed monthly cost that rises over time, and what they include varies. A fee covering heat, water and a parking space is not comparable to one covering the lobby.
Heating and cooling a detached house is a different number from a middle unit in a building. For a house, the gas and hydro history is a fair question to ask.
Commuting is a monthly cost, not only a daily annoyance. Two cars and two parking spaces, against one car and a transit pass, changes what a house costs you more than a small difference in price does.
Water heater, furnace and air conditioner rental contracts are a monthly bill attached to the property rather than to the seller.

Write the monthly number next to the asking price for each place. It reorders shortlists more often than any other single exercise.

Put them in columns and force a rank

A comparison you can take in at once is a different thing from two listings read one after the other. Same rows, one column per house, and a rank at the bottom you are not allowed to leave blank.

Write the rows before you look at the houses again, so the criteria are not quietly chosen to fit a favourite.
Keep it to about eight rows. A thirty row comparison is a way of avoiding a decision.
Include a row for the thing you would have to live with in each place.
Include the monthly number.
Rank them. If you cannot, what is missing is usually one specific question nobody has asked yet, and naming that question is worth more than another viewing.

This is what a board is for. On Housey the places sit next to each other with their details lined up and your own notes attached, which is the same exercise without rebuilding the table every time the shortlist changes.

When the two of you rank them differently

Compare the reasons, not the houses. If one of you has the semi first and the other has the townhouse first, the disagreement is almost never about the two buildings. It is about which fixed thing matters more, and that is a conversation you can actually have. See house hunting with your partner.

Decide your walk away criteria before you fall in love

Write down in advance the three things that make a house a no regardless of everything else: a price ceiling, a commute limit, a structural condition, a school, a floor you will not live above. Deciding this while you are calm is the entire point. The same list written after a viewing you loved will quietly have an exception in it.

Common questions

How do I compare a renovated house with one I would renovate?: Price the work properly, add it to the asking price, and compare the totals along with the months you would spend living in it or paying for somewhere else. Then compare the two again on the fixed list, because the reason to consider the unrenovated one is usually that it is better on something permanent.
Should I compare a condo with a house directly?: Yes, but compare monthly costs and the fixed list rather than price per square foot. They are different products, and the question is which one you want to live in at what monthly number, not which is better value in the abstract.
What if the cheaper one needs work?: Then it is not cheaper until you have a number for the work. Get the number before you offer rather than after.
How many places should be on a shortlist?: Few enough that you can hold the comparison in your head, which in practice means about three to five real candidates. A shortlist of twelve is a saved search, not a shortlist.