Real Estate Investment 101: Getting Started

Looking At Homes In Person Vs Online

The Internet has made it a lot easier to take care of many things. You can even do all of your grocery shopping online, pay your bills online, buy clothing online, meet a partner online, get a job online and even check out houses online. Yes, you can look at houses to buy without leaving your current house.

While this may sound wonderful if you are a person who has come to love the convenience of taking care of just about everything online, you do want to learn about the differences of looking at homes in person versus online, so you aren't surprised by the final outcome. This article will explain how you can view a house online and how this can affect the outcome:

You can see pictures and videos – You can see pictures of all the rooms in the house, the garage, the yard and even the street. You can use a program like Google maps to get even more views of the house and to take a look at the whole neighborhood. You can even access videos in some cases, so it will almost feel as if you are walking around the house yourself. You may feel confident that a home is right for you because you feel as if you have seen everything you need to.

You can walk into some problem areas – When you do end up stepping foot in the house for the first time in real life, you may find you are hit with a horrible odor that obviously wasn't going to come through in pictures or videos. You may also find that the house is much smaller than it appeared in pictures and videos. Or, some problem areas may have been gone right past in the pictures and videos.

You can look at a perfectly beautiful neighborhood – The pictures and videos of the surrounding neighborhood can depict street upon street of great looking houses with well-manicured lawns and nice cars out front. This can give you the feeling that the neighborhood is a nice and peaceful one, just what you have been hoping to find.

You may end up with a lot of noise and other issues – Should you decide to purchase the house with these beliefs, you may be surprised when you start to hear loud dog barks coming from a number of houses that never seem to stop, along with helicopters hovering around the streets often and even the occasional gunshot or loud holler for help off in the distance.

Conclusion – If you are going to be purchasing a home far away, the best thing you can do is to get an agent in that area. Explain just what you want to them and have them yes, send you pictures and videos of the houses they feel meet your criteria. Ask them all the questions you have about each of the potential homes and narrow it down to a few.

Then, figure out a way to get there in person to see the houses so that you can make an offer on the best one. If you can't make a trip, try to find someone you trust, such as a friend or family member in the area that can look for you. They can weed out the houses with smells, problems, bad areas and other concerns, so you have a better chance of getting into a home you will love.

Contact a company like Mike Clendenning | RE/MAX Synergy for more information and assistance. 


Share