A house by any other name ...

Checking out houses for sale can be confusing, especially as the days wear on and the number of viewings mount. To help her clients keep on track, Lauren Whittaker of Keller Williams in Marietta, Ga., near Atlanta, has them ascribe a name to each house they see.

“We try to pick a dominant feature or something funny about the house and then use that as our keyword,” Whittaker explained. “For example, if the house had a room with deep purple walls, we call it Purple, or if there was a steep drive, we’d call it Steep Drive.’

“Later, even weeks later, all I have to do is use the keyword and the right home pops in their minds.”

-- Lew Sichelman