What is Your One Must-Have Quality in a Romantic Partner? Enter your number to get our free mobile app If you had to choose one characteristic that would be a 'must-have' in a potential romantic partner, what would it be? It's a harder question than you think! In the interest of complete transparency, this was a question posed to me by my counselor. The exercise, if you choose to try it with me is to start by listing the top ten characteristics you would like to find in your mate. Then, you take away three. Then you take away three more. Then three more again until you're left with the top, must-have character trait you want in your partner. Here's what makes it tough. You can't just say shared values, it has to be a shared dedication to family. You have to be specific. Good luck!