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What is the distance between where you live and where you are buying? We will be looking next year on the east coast, so will probably buy sight unseen.
In a hot market, previewing is the province of losers.
It hurts, but it is true. I work a LOT harder to get clients into a house than myself, because we need to move quickly.
Now, if the house is crippled, and sitting on the market for 100 days or so, that urgency is nil, and I can preview to find out why.
But, new listings? By the time I can preview for a buyer who wants to see it, report to them, and wait for them to get around to seeing it, someone else is writing an offer and going to contract.
Well, the market's not THAT hot, actually. Most of the houses there take a month or more to sell. Some sell w/in the month It's just that most don't meet my criteria. But this one was apparently in a hot neighborhood and I didn't know it. My agent could have informed me of that (if she knew it), but she was out of town.
I now have a new agent (my third). Hopefully he'll be more helpful (I need all the help I can get). He also has done some remodeling, so can help w/general estimates for repairs and such.
See, I'm looking at older homes. I have to research zoning...measure the lot...do estimates for what I think are the repairs & upgrades needed. Because I don't have a limitless pocketbook. I can't afford to buy a house and then realize I have $50k of repairs & updates, and all I've budgeted is $30k. So..no, I can't look at a few pics and buy a house to live in for the rest of my life.
Thank you for stressing the need to move quickly, though. That is something I have to work on. I don't think I have a natural ability to handle this sort of thing, so it's difficult for me. I need to work on moving more quickly. But I think I do need to view the house in person to get the feel of the place, to see if I see myself living there.
Well, the market's not THAT hot, actually. Most of the houses there take a month or more to sell. Some sell w/in the month It's just that most don't meet my criteria. But this one was apparently in a hot neighborhood and I didn't know it. My agent could have informed me of that (if she knew it), but she was out of town.
I now have a new agent (my third). Hopefully he'll be more helpful (I need all the help I can get). He also has done some remodeling, so can help w/general estimates for repairs and such.
See, I'm looking at older homes. I have to research zoning...measure the lot...do estimates for what I think are the repairs & upgrades needed. Because I don't have a limitless pocketbook. I can't afford to buy a house and then realize I have $50k of repairs & updates, and all I've budgeted is $30k. So..no, I can't look at a few pics and buy a house to live in for the rest of my life.
Thank you for stressing the need to move quickly, though. That is something I have to work on. I don't think I have a natural ability to handle this sort of thing, so it's difficult for me. I need to work on moving more quickly. But I think I do need to view the house in person to get the feel of the place, to see if I see myself living there.
Sell. The good ones seem to go under option or contract within the month...I don't follow them after that to see when they close. I assume it's the norm...30 or so days after "pending." Some are taken "off market" as soon as they sell, which are cash sales, I assume.
Others seem to go under option or contract between 1 and 2 months.
Problem houses (location or whatever) seem to take at least 3 months to go under k or option. If at all.
It is rare for something to sell within a week. I've seen it a few times. It's generally a low price property. I am thinking it's like this one: a low price (so many more people can buy it), but it's in good condition and a good neighborhood.
There is another one for sale in that general neighborhood, but it's an investor property and has been on the market for at least 2 months...maybe longer. It's a less desirable part of the area, I guess. But mainly it has painted exterior brick: that's a red flag for investor property, and a lot of people don't like painted brick, incl. me. It, too, is a low price and is in good condition. It is lived in by renters currently.
It's low priced, but higher priced than the one I just lost out on, despite having a smaller lot and being in a less desirable part of that area. Still, nice house. But then I'm stuck with painted exterior brick, which I hate. Can I live with that? I don't know. It adds to the cost of upkeep, too. It will need to be re-painted periodically. Investors paint their houses light gray quite often, for some reason, which is what this one is.
I'll go see it and see the general condition in person.
What is the distance between where you live and where you are buying? We will be looking next year on the east coast, so will probably buy sight unseen.
4 to 4 1/2 hour drive. Not too far. But painful for someone who hates to travel, and too far to come back the same day. I'm also worn out and burnt out from house hunting, so I hate the thought of traveling to go see houses (again) that won't work out.
The danger of house hunting for so long is the toll it takes on a person. I am getting more and more discouraged, and less and less energetic and enthusiastic about looking.
I can't buy a house sight unseen and get stuck with it. Too often the house I see in person looks very different than the pics. I can't afford to move again, so this is it for me. The final move. But maybe I can do the option thing where I can back out in a week, for $100 and the cost of a hotel for a week (total $1k?...because I have 2 dogs).
See, I'm looking at older homes. I have to research zoning...measure the lot...do estimates for what I think are the repairs & upgrades needed. Because I don't have a limitless pocketbook. I can't afford to buy a house and then realize I have $50k of repairs & updates, and all I've budgeted is $30k. So..no, I can't look at a few pics and buy a house to live in for the rest of my life.
But you wouldn't be stuck with it. You could back out over the inspection.
So the problem with constantly changing agents is that you MUST have an agent that knows what you will like. They only learn this by going into homes with you. Then when one comes up, they walk in, if it looks good, they take video/face time you, and you write an offer contingent on a home inspection.
You can't just hire a door opener. You need to hire an agent that knows how to figure out what clients want. I hope this agent works for you.
All of that said, homes taking a month to sell is not a hot market. That is ample time to get into a home to see it for yourself. You don't have to drive up to see every house. You only need to drive to see the ones your agent says are good potential fits for you.
I have some sympathy. It's extremely difficult to buy from out of the area.
Because you are buying out of your area, you must be planning to move to the new location. In that case, so ahead and move and rent some place long enough to learn what the different neighborhoods are, so you know what is desirable and what is not. Then you can view all the new listings and you will be in abetter position to determine costs to renovate.
Unless you are buying a total wreck, it is not likely that you will get enough off of the priice to do a $50,000 kitchen renovation. What you see is what you get, and you can get some off for structural repairs, but not a whole lot off because you don't like the kitchen counters.
Location: Foothills of Maryland Blue Ridge mountains
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Originally Posted by bpollen
4 to 4 1/2 hour drive. Not too far. But painful for someone who hates to travel, and too far to come back the same day. I'm also worn out and burnt out from house hunting, so I hate the thought of traveling to go see houses (again) that won't work out.
The danger of house hunting for so long is the toll it takes on a person. I am getting more and more discouraged, and less and less energetic and enthusiastic about looking.
I can't buy a house sight unseen and get stuck with it. Too often the house I see in person looks very different than the pics. I can't afford to move again, so this is it for me. The final move. But maybe I can do the option thing where I can back out in a week, for $100 and the cost of a hotel for a week (total $1k?...because I have 2 dogs).
I'm sure this has occurred to you, but what about renting in your new location for a year before you buy? That could be tough with the dogs though. And it would be more costly at least initially. And two moves is no fun.
But this way you could slow down a bit. Get to know a realtor....and they get to know you. You could familiarize yourself with local businesses/contractors. It would minimize the chances of having serious buyers remorse with your new home.
Make SURE you have an excellent agent. Go through the listings of recent sales and find out which one or two have sold and listed many properties lately. That speaks for them usually.
Starving agents will talk a fine talk, but you can't trust them to do their best job for you, their client. They just want a sale. Good agents know the better areas of town and will show you comparables.
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