Way back when my wife and I started to look for our first house, we found that after seeing more than a few homes at a time, the details of each home would start to melt together. At the end of the day we would end up with a big brain blob of information and start to forget what each house was all about. Was it the blue one? Was it the one with the great bathroom? Was the deck rotten? Huh?

So, because my wife is infinitely brilliant, she came up with a brilliant idea.

Give each house a nickname.

A name taken from a prominent feature would jog the memory in an instant. Later, when you are trying to compare one house to another, it becomes much easier to do.

I now encourage home buyers to run with this little Jedi mind trick and have some fun with it. Why? Because buying a house should be fun, that’s why!

What sort of names have houses earned?

Sometimes the names were no more than the name of the street they were on, but sometimes the names were much more telling than that. Here is a sampling of some of the more interesting house names that we’ve heard.

The originators and locations of these houses shall remain nameless to protect the innocent.

• The Wallpaper House ~ self explanatory
• The Crack-house ~ the drywall was cracked everywhere due to shifting
• The I Hate You House ~ the sellers were in a nasty divorce
• Old Slopey ~ yup, there were changes in altitude as you walked the floors
• The Fish Smell House ~ freshly cooked fish
• The Loud Guy’s House ~ a loud guy lived there



• The Fish Pond House ~ had a really great fish pond
• The Brady House ~ looked like Mike Brady actually designed it…except with more than one bathroom!
• The Crazy Cat House ~ a crazy cat jumped out of a treehouse at us
• The Green Couch House ~ BIG green couches
• The George Jetson House ~ in the future, humankind will live in houses like this! It was freaking awesome!
• The Silence of The Lambs House ~ the basement looked like it was the set from the movie!
• The Oh Wow! House ~ the views were incredible, and that was just the beginning!

and my all time favourite:

The One

Yes, my Buyer now lives in this great home.

You too can have fun with this game! The next time you are in the market, let’s find some great houses and give them great names.

When shall we start?

Call me when you’re ready.