Weighting your priorities
Last reviewed 16 October 2026 · by Eddy Hwang
A plain average treats “Natural light” and “Outdoor space” as equally important. A weighted score lets you say that one matters more than the other, once, before the tours start.
What the importance levels mean
| Importance | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 0 | Does not matter. Stays visible in the table but never changes the score. |
| 1 | Nice to have. |
| 2 | Somewhat important. |
| 3 | Important. |
| 4 | Very important. |
| 5 | Essential, but still a matter of degree. |
A worked example
Say “Natural light” has importance 5 and “Quiet inside” has importance 3. A home gets 5 for light and 1 for quiet.
(5 × 5 + 3 × 1) ÷ (5 + 3) = 28 ÷ 8 = 3.5
A plain average would say 3.0. The weighted score is higher because the home does well on what you said matters more. If you change an importance later, every home is recalculated at once, so you can see whether the order of your shortlist depends on one setting.
Not checked is not zero
If you did not get to see the garden, leave “Outdoor space” as “Not checked”. Counting it as the lowest score would punish the home for your missed look; counting it as average would invent an opinion. TourLedger leaves it out and shows a “checked” figure: the share of your total importance you actually scored. A home with a high score but 40% checked deserves a second visit before it goes to the top of your list. That is why the comparison lists fully checked homes first and partly checked homes in their own group.
Must-haves are separate from the score
Some things are not a matter of degree. “Dog allowed”, “Ground floor access” or “Monthly cost within our limit” either hold or do not. Add these as must-haves and mark each home pass, fail or unknown. A home that fails a must-have is never hidden. It is listed after the others with the failed item named, so you can decide for yourself whether it really is a deal-breaker.
Keep the list short. If everything is a must-have, nothing is left for the score to help with.
Setting weights well
- Set weights before the first tour. Setting them afterwards tends to reward the home you already like.
- Use the whole range. If every criterion is 4 or 5, the weights do almost nothing.
- Keep criteria specific enough to score. “Kitchen” is fine; “Feels like home” is better as a note.
- Treat the result as a summary of your own notes, not a verdict. A 0.1 difference is a tie.