How to compare properties before you decide

You have been searching for weeks. You have found two or three properties that could work. You have viewed them, taken photos and made mental notes. Now comes the hardest part: which one makes the most sense to buy? Comparing homes from memory and scattered notes is not enough when you are about to make the most expensive decision of your life.

The Hogarfax property comparison dashboard is designed for precisely this moment.

The problem with comparing properties using incomplete information

Most buyers compare homes based on what they remember: the flat on Calle Velázquez seemed brighter, the one on Avenida Principal had a larger kitchen, and the home in the new neighbourhood cost more but was in a better area. Those impressions are valid, but incomplete.

The factors missing from that mental comparison may have the greatest bearing on your decision: whether a property is in a flood zone, whether the building's ITE inspection is overdue, whether the asking price is 15% above the area's benchmark value, or whether the usable floor area falls below minimum habitability standards.

Hogarfax automatically checks each property against more than twenty official data sources. The comparison dashboard brings all that information together so you can see the differences that matter, not merely those you remember.

What the comparison dashboard shows

The dashboard organises information into blocks that you can review column by column, with one property in each column. Each row represents a parameter, showing at a glance how all the properties compare on that specific point. The system automatically highlights which performs best in each area.

• Property characteristics — Property type, cadastral use, built area, plot, year of construction, bedrooms, bathrooms and Energy Performance Certificate. Data from the Cadastre and report, not the listing.
• Price and market value — Asking price, price per square metre and comparison with the area's transaction-price benchmark. See whether the price is in line with, above or below the market, including the exact percentage difference.
• Risk — Number of critical alerts and warnings in each property's report, broken down by physical risks, land use, industrial surroundings, climate and building condition.
• Property condition — Building age, ITE or IEE status, habitability based on minimum floor area, and issues identified by the user or reported by other buyers.
• Personal dossier — Everything you have recorded about each property: asking price, negotiation stage, viewing, overall impression and the property's strongest and weakest points.

Price versus market: the figure that changes the most decisions

A property's asking price tells you little unless you know what the local market is worth. A property priced at EUR 280,000 could be an opportunity or overpriced; it depends on actual transaction values in the same area.

The comparison dashboard uses each municipality's benchmark transaction price per square metre, based on officially registered sales rather than listings, to calculate how far each property deviates from the market. That gap, in euros and as a percentage, appears directly in the comparison.

If you are comparing three properties and one is priced 18% above the benchmark while the other two are in line with the market, that changes how you assess each option and gives you a concrete basis for negotiation.

Your financing scenario: the monthly payment for each option

Comparing absolute prices has one drawback: the purchase price is not what you pay each month. What matters to your household finances is the mortgage payment, which depends on the price, your deposit, the term and the interest rate.

The comparison dashboard includes a financing-scenario calculator that applies the same parameters to every property simultaneously. Adjust the deposit percentage, term and interest rate, and the dashboard recalculates the estimated monthly payment, amount borrowed and approximate total cost for each option in real time.

The calculation is indicative and does not replace a formal bank offer, but it provides a sound basis for comparison. A property costing EUR 20,000 less could reduce the monthly payment by EUR 80-90 over 25 years. Seeing that beside the other options changes the analysis.

Property condition: ITE, age, habitability and identified issues

One of the dashboard's most useful blocks groups together indicators of the building's condition. Four points summarise what the report identifies about the property's physical and legal position:

• Age — Buildings constructed before 1980 have different implications from newer ones: electrical and plumbing systems may need updating, efficient thermal insulation may be absent, and they pre-date the Technical Building Code (CTE). What each construction era means, explained in detail.
• ITE / IEE — Buildings over 45-50 years old, depending on the autonomous community, may require an ITE Technical Building Inspection or IEE Building Assessment Report. An overdue inspection or serious deficiencies may result in special assessments. How the ITE works.
• Habitability (minimum floor area) — Regional rules set minimum habitable areas. A home below those thresholds may have difficulty obtaining a habitation certificate, being rented out or undergoing certain renovations. What minimum habitability standards mean.
• Identified issues — Issues recorded by the buyer in each property's dossier, such as damp, cracks, noise or structural problems, appear in the indicator. One or more medium- or high-severity issues turns the indicator red; minor issues appear in amber; no recorded issues appear in grey.

The dossier: making your notes part of the analysis

Official data is objective, but a purchase decision is not purely objective. Some things only you know: how you felt during the viewing, what the seller said on the phone, the special assessment mentioned by the homeowners' association, the noise you heard at midday or the damp patch on the bathroom ceiling that had been partly concealed.

The Hogarfax dossier lets you record all of this for each property, linked directly to its report: the asking price, listing portal, negotiation stage, overall impression from the viewing, the best and worst features, and a list of identified issues with severity levels.

The dossier also records the transaction stage: whether you have made contact, viewed the property, submitted an offer or received a counteroffer. The negotiation history and technical analysis combine to provide the full picture of each option.

When to use the comparison dashboard

This is not a tool for an initial browse. It is for the point when you have several genuine options and need to move from subjective impressions to structured analysis.

The usual process is to save the properties that interest you to your Hogarfax dashboard and generate a report for each. Once two or more have reports, select them and open the comparison dashboard. You can then review everything important side by side, adjust the financing scenario, check risk indicators and open each property's dossier.

If one option performs clearly worse in that comparison, with an inflated price, more critical alerts, an overdue ITE with deficiencies or issues identified during the viewing, that may justify setting it aside and focusing on the properties that withstand scrutiny better.

If the options are evenly matched, the dashboard helps you identify the real differences and the specific questions to ask each seller before proceeding.