Excel or Google Sheets. Weighted scoring that actually does the arithmetic. Take it and go; there is nothing to sign up for.
A spreadsheet is a perfectly good way to run a home search, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something. You already know how one works, it costs nothing, nobody can take it away from you, and you can put whatever you like in it.
So here is ours. It is free, there is no email form in front of it, and we are not going to make you watch a video first.
27 columns, 30 rows ready to fill, weighted scoring built in.
To use it in Google Sheets: download the .xlsx, then File → Import → Upload. The formulas and the dropdowns come across.
Three things most free templates leave out: a second price column for what you would actually pay, a weighted score that respects what you care about, and somewhere to put the things that decide a purchase but never appear in a listing.
| Group | Columns |
|---|---|
| The basics | Address, Status, List Price, Your Target Price, Beds, Baths, Sq Ft, $ / Sq Ft |
| The costs that bite later | HOA / month, Property Tax / yr, Lot Size, Year Built |
| Other important info | Flood Zone, School District, Drive: Work, Drive: School |
| What you thought | Pros, Cons, Notes, Listing Link |
| Scoring | Six criteria scored 1–5, each with its own weight, and a Weighted Score column that works out the total |
The scoring is the part worth explaining. Row 2 holds how much each criterion matters to you, from 1 to 10, the same scale as Power Rankings in the app. Score a house on the ones you care about and leave the rest blank; the total divides by the weights you actually used, so a half-scored house still compares fairly with a fully scored one. Rename the six criteria to whatever matters in your search. "Natural light" and "garage" beat our guesses.
$ / Sq Ft fills itself in. Status is a dropdown. Nothing else is clever, on purpose.
We make an app for this, so treat what follows with the suspicion it deserves. But these are the four places every spreadsheet we have seen, ours included, runs into a wall.
None of that makes a spreadsheet the wrong choice. It makes those four columns expensive to keep accurate, which is why most people leave them blank.
Real-Helper is the same idea as this spreadsheet, with those four columns filled in for you. Your own places on a map with the drive time to each from every house. FEMA flood zones and school district boundaries, one tap each. Your photos, on the property. The same weighted scoring, as Power Rankings.
It is free for five properties, which is about where a spreadsheet still feels fine, and you can start without signing in.
And if you would rather keep the spreadsheet, keep the spreadsheet. It is yours; we are not going to ask for it back.
Drive times, flood zones, school districts and your own photos, on every house. Free for five properties, no sign-in to start.
Download Free on the App StoreThe template is free to download, use, change and share, for personal or professional use, with no attribution required. It is a blank spreadsheet, not financial, legal or tax advice, and the figures you put in it are your own. Real-Helper is an organizer and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or a partner of Microsoft, Google, FEMA, or any real estate listing site, brokerage, or multiple listing service.