How to Buy a House Virtually
As the pandemic has spawned tales of continued exodus from many major cities (although it’s important not to dwell on those headlines ), homes are increasingly being sold unnoticed. According to Yahoo Finance , one in 20 homes is currently being sold to buyers remotely. If you want to take advantage of the low interest rates fueling the market, you might as well consider distance buying. Here’s what you need to know to make it work for you.
What is buying a virtual home?
In most cases, masking and social distancing is all that is required for a home check-up, but the increase in virtual shopping can be attributed to people who are highly motivated and don’t want to risk too much travel (especially out of state) as a pandemic. the number of cases continues to rise.
Of course, nothing beats a traditional personal inspection to give you a good sense of the space, light, noise or smell of the place, but in the case of a virtual purchase, your real estate agent can act as your proxy. In addition, real estate companies have made strides in offering enhanced viewing of the home from afar, including panoramic photography, 3D mapping, and virtual tours.
“We’ve had a huge spike in the number of customers, many of whom made a purchase directly from video without seeing the property until they were in the checkout period, or we narrowed down the list of properties based on video,” realtor Sue Benson tells RE / MAX in a recent interview with Bankrate .
Tips for buying a virtual home
Don’t rely too much on photos or videos provided by the seller when deciding whether to buy a home. Instead, use these tools to help you narrow down your shortlist to multiple homes, after which you can arrange for your agent to provide a separate private virtual tour (many sellers do not allow open houses or face-to-face visits will allow agents to view properties on behalf of the buyer. )
When creating your short list of properties, keep in mind that you are not shown. As Money broker Peggy Yee told Money, “If there are a ton of photos of bedrooms but no photos of bathrooms, there might be a problem.” If rooms are missing from photos and videos, you should request them or ask your agent to pay more attention to them during the passage.
Realtor.com suggests looking out for the following red flags :
- Is the exterior photo larger than the interior? Inside, some work may be required.
- Closed curtains and blinds in the photo usually obscure poor visibility.
- If the bathroom image is focused on the sink, it could mean that it is very small.
- If the photos look stretched out, the salesperson or agent is trying to enlarge the room.
- Some listing conditions are also a wake-up call. “Top retainer” can mean a great investment or money pit, while “cozy” usually means a small home.
Also, use Google Street View to get a feel for the street and surroundings of your intended home, as this is also an important factor when evaluating your home.
Check documents
Ask your agent to do additional paperwork prior to purchasing, including keeping track of previous listings, original blueprints or floor plans (which may help you locate prior repairs done without permission ), and seller disclosures .
Finally, Investopedia recommends taking advantage of the due diligence period during the sale process (which is required in some states) if you want to take some time to inspect the property later. In doing so, you get a contract house, but you still have a waiver clause (albeit with a small financial penalty) in case you have any concerns.