Navigating Buying A Home Virtually

Buying a house during the time of Covid-19 has modified the way we look at buying a house. It can be a strange and oftentimes confusing process in general but things are different now. Most people are used to spending a couple Saturday and Sunday’s driving from house to house to see what each property looks like up close. Now open houses and tours of homes can be virtually and with little or no contact with anyone. With the internet you can look at an array of homes from your own kitchen table. While you can use these tools to narrow down a search, if you find a home you really like then it may be possible to reach out to the real estate agent for a personal look either virtually or in person with proper precautions taken. With the market being as up and down as it is you also have to be quite alert and on top of things to have a chance to buy your "dream home".

 

When searching online it is important to note the location of the property and its relationship to its surroundings. If you plan on using the home to retire in and are interested in moving to an active community, like Hot Springs Village, then it would do you no good to be miles from your nearest neighbor. Google Earth is a great resource where you can investigate the property down to every detail captured by their cameras. You can also see how far the house is from local amenities like the library, fitness center or recreation areas. 

 

Before you start the virtual home buying process it is important that you spell out your wants and needs so that you can weigh them against each property and this way you can see where you might be able to have some wiggle room. Not every house is going to have everything on your list but there may be some compromise to be made. Be sure to keep a good record of each house that you are interested in so that you can compare them to each other as well as keep them all straight in your mind. You don’t want to get confused about which property is what. You can create a simple Word document, Google Doc or whatever you are most comfortable with to help you keep things organized. It is also helpful that your internet connection and computer is up to par and can handle the amount of searching you will be doing. Noone wants to waste time waiting for pictures or video to load on a slow connection. 

 

If and when you find a home that you are interested in and you have set up a virtual session where your agent can take you through the property through a video chat be sure to have a set of questions that you can ask him or her. There are certain things that pictures and videos just don't do proper justice. You can ask specific questions about decorative finishes, ages of appliances and room sizes. Anything that you would ask during an open house is fair game. Use all the tools at your disposal to get as much information that you can.

 

Hopefully, we can learn to work and thrive in this new hybrid home buying process that has been thrust upon us. Your agent can be a wealth of information and resource as well so if you are still looking for one please check out our Agents page.