It sounds crazy to shell out thousands of dollars for a home you haven’t even set eyes on, right?
While buying “sight unseen” has long been the only option for relocating military families, the trend is on the rise,
Even if you’re buying blind, you needn’t be in the dark. Check out this advice before you add a house to your online shopping cart.
Go beyond a slideshow
We’re all used to clicking through photos of a property, but listing photographs tend to show only a home’s most flattering views. Buying sight unseen demand a more in-depth media experience—one that most selling agents can easily provide.
Texas Realtor® Benjamin Beaver, for one, is a huge believer in making video walk-through tours for his properties. “With video, you see all the angles” he says. “I think it gives buyers that confidence of, ‘OK, I know what I’m getting here.'”
Beaver has even had people who weren’t planning on buying without an in-person visit “ready to make an offer” after seeing a great video. Just make sure the video tour you get covers all the bases—including the outside of the house, closets, even the water pressure in the bathroom. If it doesn’t, ask for more footage. The more you see, the better sense you’ll have of the space even if you can’t set foot inside.
Offer a bird’s-eye view
The home isn’t the only thing you’ll want to scrutinize from afar. You should also virtually tour the neighborhood. Home may be where the heart is, but the location of the nearest yoga studio matters, too.
“I recommend [buyers] look at Google Earth and do Street View to get a good feel for the area,” says Beaver. So ask your agent to do a video tour of the surrounding streets, as Beaver does for his clients. This can reveal potential noise issues such as a nearby highway or railroad track that might be hidden in listing photos.
Get an extra set of eyes
Of course, home inspectors help unearth all of a home’s dirty secrets before you sign on the dotted line. But for remote buyers, they provide an added service: They can be your eyeballs on the ground!
Go to the American Society of Home Inspectors, where you can search by your home’s address for an inspector nearby who can come over and kick the tires on your behalf.
Inspectors are typically hired after an offer is made, but buyers who can’t visit the home should contact one even before they make an offer. Why? To ask them to skim the home’s online profile—photos, videos, the works—since their trained eyes can pick out what home sellers may be trying to hide, says Frank Lesh, ASHI’s executive director. This early recon can help you decide if you’d even like to make an offer, and hire them for a full-on in-person inspection.
And another nose
An inspector can also catch other issues that your senses can’t detect from a video or an online photo album—issues such as lingering odors from dank basements, cooking habits, or pets.
Carpeting could look good in a photograph, says Lesh, “but if there is a lingering cat smell, people need to know that.” These are smells an owner may be inured to, so make sure to ask your home inspector about any odors and address them before you sign a contract.
You can also use Google Earth to suss out certain other odoriferous side features. Scan homes from above, look for any ponds or other bodies of standing water nearby, and know where the prevailing winds come from, says Lesh. You’ll be glad you did.
Check comps in the area
While checking the comps, or selling prices of similar homes in the area, is a good idea for all home buyers, it’s particularly important if you’re not going to be cruising the neighborhood. Because let’s face it: If there’s a problem with the neighborhood, the surrounding homes’ selling prices speak volumes. Plus, if you do show up at the home and hate it, good comps mean you can easily sell it so you can go find a place that does suit your fancy.
Ask for a walk-through contingency
At the end of the day, the only way you’ll know a home is right for you is to set foot inside it—which is why the best safeguard you can negotiate in your contract is a walk-through contingency, which allows you to actually walk through the property before signing the papers at closing. After all: you’re gonna have to see the place eventually, right?
Just keep this in mind: As with all contingencies, sellers don’t have to agree to them. And they may demand a higher purchase price to compensate for the trouble. But if you’re truly on the fence, ask! The worst that can happen is you’ll hear a “no”; the best is that you’ll no longer be buying blind.
