Real estate moves fast these days, and that means you may not have as much chance to look at a home as you would in a slower market. Often, you must decide whether to make an offer on a house within hours of viewing it, rather than scheduling an appointment to see the house again with your best friend, parents and cousins.

That means that you have to make that first tour really count, but knowing where to focus your attention and what to ignore can help. In short, look hard at things you cannot change, or that will be expensive to change, and concentrate less on things that aren’t permanent.

“Do not focus on cosmetic things,” says Connie Durnal, a Redfin agent in Dallas. “That’s something that can be changed economically and easily. If you go into a home, and it’s staged and it’s decorated to the nines. don’t look at all these pretty things in a home.”