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I actually had an investor from Calif. call me a few months ago and said this is the way he buys houses! However, buying as an investment and buying as a HOME is quite different. Too many times I've had my buyers pick out houses they wanted to see based on photos and too often they've been disappointed. I'll usually tell them that I get to pick a few too! Those are the ones in areas and neighborhoods that I KNOW match their criteria but the photos just don't do them justice.
As a new resident to North Carolina and as a Real Estate agent (previously in PA) and here, I would very strongly discourage it.
As a new resident, I was convinced that I knew what town we would live in after reading and listening to everything I could about the area. I came for 3 days and totally changed my mind.
There is so much selection in homes here, that you are not giving yourself a chance to find the right home and as a first time buyer, you most likely don't yet know what the right home is.
As a Real Estate agent, sellers and agents alike will not be confident in any offer you make having not seen the house, let alone the area. The potential of you backing out of the transaction would be huge.
As far as low balling goes, your need an agent to pull up all of the comparables on any house you plan to make an offer on (after seeing it of course). You don't know if the house is grossly overpriced or priced correctly. Also whether you are a first time buyer or not, you must realize that some day you will have a house on the market and how you would feel if someone brought in a "low ball" offer.
The hype about the market taking a dive here is over exagerated. I came from outside of Philadelphia, where the market went through this exact same change 14 months ago. This market will weed out the sellers who were trying to outragiously price their homes and were unreasonable about its condition and will attract the serious buyers. I saw the beneficial changes that happened with this "Correction" in the market. It is actually good for booming areas to experience it. I know sellers won't think so but they will notice that when their house is priced correctly for the condition and location it is in, the buyers they will attract will not just be looking for a bargain. They will be looking for a home.
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