Looking at Homes Online vs. in Person

It’s one thing to buy clothing online that you’ve never seen or tried on in-person, but it’s something else entirely if you try to apply that technique to buying a home.

Searching for a home online is a great way to start the home buying process, emphasis on the word “start” here. Buying a home without seeing it in person first is risky, and you can’t return a house like you can a shirt.

Online listings can be deceiving. We’ve all been there...You find an awesome shirt online, it looks great on the model, it looks to be the perfect color, and the length will actually work for you. You instantly fall in love with it, and have to buy it. Using the sizing chart you select your size and make that purchase. When you receive the shirt, it is a cheap material, waaay too short and you have to request assistance to get out of it because it’s entirely too small...sound familiar? If this is a possibility with online clothes shopping, why would looking at homes be any different? A listing is simply a convincing and sometimes deceiving advertisement meant to attract buyers.

Few, if any, sellers are going to include a picture of the black mold under the kitchen sink, the hole in the roof, or the terrible neighbors who never cut their grass. Most photos in a home listing are selected to display the property in the most positive way possible. Savvy agents will use every trick in the book to make their listing seem appealing: trendy lingo, clever staging and misleading photography.

Don’t get fooled by online real estate photography. Follow these 3 real estate shopping tips:

  1. Don’t get too attached. It may look great online, but don’t get your hopes up until you have seen the property in person.

  2. Find a good Realtor. You want to work with someone who will point out the pros AND cons of each home you look at.

  3. Try to be patient. Impulse decisions in real estate can end up costing a lot of money to fix, and could have life altering impacts.

If you’ve been searching for homes online and are ready to start seeing them in person, let’s connect. We are the realest Realtors you will meet and we will provide you with information on the good, bad and the ugly of the properties you are interested in.