How to Shop for An Out of State Home When You Can’t Shop In Person

Shopping for a new home is a stressful time. It's even more stressful when distance makes it impossible to shop in person. Buying a home sight-unseen can feel like quite a leap of faith, but there are ways to ensure that you're making the right choice, even if you can't walk through the house before submitting an offer.

Browse the Classifieds

Many local newspapers will post their classifieds section online these days. Search the classifieds and boxed ads for homes that are for sale in the area you’re interested in moving to. Copy pertinent information or save the pages of the ones you’re most interested in learning more about. Then, find a real estate agent who might be able give you the skinny on those homes.

Put Your Faith in Your Real Estate Agent

Since you can’t do your home shopping in person, you need a person you can trust to do it for you. Do some research on real estate agents in the area before putting your faith in one. Keep looking until you find one that you feel confident in, ideally one that specializes in out-of-state purchases. Make sure they know exactly what your price range is, what style of house you’re looking for, how many bedrooms you require and any particulars on which you're not willing to budge. The more information he has, the easier it will be for him to find homes that have potential. If you don’t know what you want in a home, do some research before finding an agent so that you're able to approach him with a strong idea of what you're looking for.

Send Someone Else

Trusting a stranger, even a professional real estate agent, on the basis of a website and a few phone cals might be more than you're comfortable with when it comes to such a large purchase. If you have friends or relatives in the area you're moving to, see if they're willing to act as a liaison. The closer the friend or relative, the better they'll know you and more capable they'll be of predicting your reaction to a specific property. With the information the trusted friend or relative shares and plenty of photographs, you might be able to narrow down the list of possibilities.

Have Recent Pictures Taken and Sent to You

If a house has been on the market for a while, there's a good chance that the photos are a few years old, and things may have changed since then. Has the siding started to wear? Are the shingles nearing their end? These things can sometimes be told from an updated photograph. Make sure the real estate agent is sharing recent photos, rather than outdated ones. Don't be afraid to ask for detailed shots both the interior and exterior. A motivated seller will be eager to close the deal, and your real estate agent will be anxious to collect his commission from the sale. Keep in mind, rooms may look larger in photos than they actually are, so have the measurements sent along with the photos. This will give you a better idea of the actual layout.

Get As Much Information As Possible

The more information you can get about the houses on your shortlist, the better. There’s more to worry about than just the size of the rooms and the square footage of the home. See how old the furnace, water heater and other appliances are so you'll have an idea of when they'll need to be replaced. You’ll be able to weigh the pros and the cons better with more information. You'll also want to ascertain which appliances will be included with the sale of the home. If you have to buy appliances, you’ll need to budget for those items and may want to amend any offer you make accordingly.

Make Sure to Make One Trip Before Signing

Before saying making a final commitment, you’ll want to take the time to visit the home. There may be a deal-breaker lurking out of sight in the pictures, and you don't want to purchase without ever walking through a home. It’ll be worth your time to visit the home at least once. Don’t leave everything up to someone else and your faith in a real estate agent, or you may find yourself in an untenable living situation.

Don’t let the stress of finding a new home discourage you. Delegate as much of the work as possible to others, then make the final decision after you’ve received all the information you need to make a sensible choice.

Resources:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080505120031AAZT6T4
http://homebuyersblog.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/how-to-buy-a-house-out-of...