Buying long distance without seeing property ~~ (Sarasota: real estate, rent, condos)

[ConeyIsBabe]

I'm considering buying a town home in Sarasota long distance. I live in Oregon. My daughter lives in Sarasota and she would be my scout, along with a Sarasota Realtor. Has anyone had any personal experience in buying real estate this way ? Any advice or comments will be appreciated

[03bluecoupe]

To each their own; relative or no relative there is absolutely zero percent probability of me buying much of anything, let alone a house that I'm going to live in, without seeing it first hand. I think you're asking for trouble.

[kiggy]

I tend to agree with 03bluecoupe on this one. Unless your daughter knows exactly what your taste is and where you would like to live, go down to Sarasota yourself to check out not only the house but the surrounding areas. My husband and I spent a week down in SWFL and found our house in a week after looking at 40 different properties. You can always close on the house long distance, but don't take a chance. It's much too important.

[jambo101]

Originally Posted by ConeyIsBabe

I'm considering buying a town home in Sarasota long distance. I live in Oregon. My daughter lives in Sarasota and she would be my scout, along with a Sarasota Realtor. Has anyone had any personal experience in buying real estate this way ? Any advice or comments will be appreciated

Why not just rent a place for a few months once you arrive then buy the house that suits you,\
Buying site unseen is very risky IMO as there are so many things that may not be obvious from just looking at a picture, like the biker gang living next door,the crack house across the street, the constant barking dogs, well use your imagination.Certainly not something i'd do.

[Cardiff by the Sea]

I have read posts here in the past in which people have done what you are considering. They had been to Sarasota and new exactly what they wanted as in sub-division and style. Then their realtor watched until what they wanted and a relative vetted it for them. It worked under those conditions.

My husband and I made an offer on a house we had not seen. We had made 5 trips to Sarasota prior to this so we knew exactly the neighborhood, street, and what we wanted in a house. Besides the MLS pics, my realtor took another 100 pictures for me. There was not an inch of this house I had not seen in pictures. I was very comfortable with it.

The seller would not take us seriously. In her mind, no one would make an offer on a purchase of that magnitude without seeing it. She countered us with a price that was above her asking price. Her response certainly said screw off. She would not negotiate with us until we came and looked at the house, which we were unable to do for several weeks. The negotiations were very frustrating but we finally reached a deal. That house feel out of escrow on the last day because a title defect was discovered. But my point is negotiations can be hard if the seller doesn't take you seriously.

My second point is Sarasota neighborhoods are very hit and miss. Nice houses can be next to the house or houses from hell. I would be very scared to do what you are preposing without coming here first.

[macrodome2]

We did something similar to Cardiff. We'd already picked out the neighborhoods we were interested in. I watched the new listings each day. When the house popped up, I asked our realtor to go take a look to make sure there wasn't anything we couldn't see in the pictures- funky smells, neighbor issues, etc. We had already rented a house for a month in the same community and were very familiar with it.

When she said everything was fine, we put in an offer and negotiated the contract. Once the contract was negotiated we came down to see it. We put that we had 20 days to come to see it and we could back out with no reason. We saw it the day we came down and our realtor set up the inspection for the next day. We closed 2 weeks later.

[Boston2Florida]

We sort of did that. Last February while on a visit to my inlaws we started talking about buying property in the area. We had been visiting 3x a year for several years and were starting to outgrow staying with them as my children began getting bigger. On a whim my husband and I decided to check out an open house at a community nearby. We were pleasantly surprised by the value and made an appointment with the realtor who was at that showing to meet up the next day to look at some other properties in the same community. Because we were not seriously looking at that time we were really just poking around. We saw 5-6 condos and they all sort of blurred together.

After we came back home we spent a lot of time looking at properties and communities in the area online.

A few weeks later one of the condos dropped in price by $15,000. We figured they were hoping to sell during the peak season and so we made a lowball offer which was accepted.

Although we had seen the property my memory of it was very vague.

My inlaws attended the home inspection and we signed all the paperwork through the mail. We didn't even go to the closing. Our realtor got the keys for us and we picked them up when we flew down.

Although we had seen the property my memory of it was very vague.

My inlaws attended the home inspection and we signed all the paperwork through the mail. We didn't even go to the closing. Our realtor got the keys for us and we picked them up when we flew down.

[froglipz]

I think not doing your own inspection and putting it on your daughter could lead to ruining a relationship. Don't put her in a position like that, its unfair to her. Allow her to narrow down properties but the final selection NEEDS to be done by YOU in person.

[Lizbethnewbe]

We purchased a home last summer which we had seen on line. We really were not familiar with the area much but had a wonderful, professional realtor who sent us comparables and went to the house to inspect it herself. She took pictures and a video where she walked through describing everything. I asked her to call the listing agent to find out if there any offers pending or close at hand. Apparently there was an offer but it had not been accepted because of $$$. We had just been there earlier n the year and didn't want to make the trip in vain if it was sold before we got there. My realtor worked with us to come up with an offer would be acceptable, with great terms--cash and quick closing. Our only demand was a week to view the home in person if the offer was accepted. They accepted, we flew down viewed the home and several others to confirm our choice, and we closed in 30 days.

I would have your daughter do the legwork and show you as much as possible with layouts and pictures. If you really find the perfect place, I would place on offer with a week or two for your physical review. I would never buy a home totally blind because there are always things you don't notice until you're in the space, as well as neighbors, location and any restrictions they may have if its an association. As much as I know my Mom, she picked some homes I would never have picked for her. It'll be worth the expense of the trip and take some of the burden off your daughter.

[Boston2Florida]

Originally Posted by Lizbethnewbe

Our only demand was a week to view the home in person if the offer was accepted. They accepted, we flew down viewed the home and several others to confirm our choice, and we closed in 30 days.

I would have your daughter do the legwork and show you as much as possible with layouts and pictures. If you really find the perfect place, I would place on offer with a week or two for your physical review.

When we had our offer excepted on our place last March, we had 15 days to have an inspection and back out for any reason without penalty. I could be wrong, but I thought that was just the standard in FL. It wasn't something we asked for. I'm sure one of the realtors on these forums could better address that, but it may give you some piece of mind.

Best wishes on the search!