When you buy a home, the inspection report can feel overwhelming: pages of potential problems and recommended fixes. But this detailed document can be a powerful tool for planning your home improvements.

This hack comes from one of my "How I Bought My First Home" interviewees, who got this advice from their real estate agent. If you take your home inspection PDF and write down all the individual issues and rank them from most to least urgent, you'll have a list of your super fun home improvement priorities for the next five years. Here's how to turn that intimidating PDF into an organized, actionable project plan.

First, go through your inspection report line by line and make a master list of each problem identified. Include:

The location in your home