I don't even like buying shoes or jeans without trying them on; imagine a million dollar home. Huh. At least Zappos takes returns.
I suppose you'd better really trust your agent, and make sure the agent is truly a buyers agent and not a seller's agent showing the home. Because if the house smells like old sweaters, cats and must, you might not be happy. Or if you find that the floors are uneven and the showers all leak, or the furnace belches black smoke every time it cycles on. Or that the neighbors have a lonely rottweiler.
But if you have 10% of a the price to gamble, go for it.
2
1.25 mil is low for an entire house in Larchmont. My impression is that most nice homes in Larchmont go for more like 2.5 to 3.5 million. So either the buyer liked the house and knew it would get snapped up fast or the buyer figured he was buying a cheap house (for the area). I mean, if I were offered a 750 sq ft 1 bedroom in SoHo renting for 2,500 a month, I'd probably take it unseen, because most 1 bedrooms in SoHo start around 3,500. I'd just assume the place had some major problems not visible in photos. I'd mentally set aside a couple of thousand for home repairs.
2
Shouldn't this be Scent Unsmelled?
2
So Mr. Fountas takes a job as a risk manager and took the place sight unseen? I hope for his sake his firm doesn't read this article.
7
@ZHR: A risk manager manages risk. It's really impossible to eliminate all risk.
Since only a desperate, devil-may-care sort will purchase a house without having an inspector go over the place, there's little chance that a buyer will end up with a damp basement and not know it.
Put in an offer, hire an inspector to look things over, and then go through with the deal or not. Contracts always have the "out" of an unsatisfactory inspection. And anyway, there are lots of ways to mitigate moisture.
3
We made the leap, on a Colorado condo, after our son did a walkthrough with the realtor and sent photos that were more realistic than those in the listing. In a near-zero inventory market, it boiled down to take it or leave it when someone made a full-price offer. Scary, but all worked out great and we absolutely love it.
4
We did just this when we moved to Western NY two years ago. The option worked for us because (1) we're veteran homebuyers and renovators, so we had a good idea of what we were looking for and how to assess a house; (2) we have good credit, so the seller was willing to work with us; (3) we did a lot of homework on the area and we had contacts in the area; (4) we had two realtors go through the house and both of them had the same assessment.
Some say we should have done temporary or rental housing, but that was an unpalatable option. We have school-age kids that we needed to get settled in schools, and we'd already been displaced in temporary housing in our previous city. There is a cost of moving multiple times and keeping our belongings in storage.
All that said, this is what happens when you have a seller's market with low inventory in desirable school districts. If all of the schools were equally well regarded, and housing was just generally more available across the board, we wouldn't have to fight an overheated market and do crazy things like buy a house sight unseen in one of the last places in the country you'd expect this to happen.
4
Leslie Turner, a real estate broker in Charleston, S.C., said homes in the downtown area are selling so quickly that it is challenging to get clients in for tours if they do not live in town and have immediate availability. “By the time you get on a plane to go see it, it’ll be gone,” she said.
A cursory search of Ms Turner's own listings on Zillow turns up two apartments reasonably close to the medical school (MUSC) which have been on Zillow for 56 days and over a hundred days.
I guess they are in a hurry in Charleston to sell their stuff downtown before the fall flooding season begins and photos begin to circulate of residents using boats instead of cars to get to their houses.
15
I will never understand why people rush to buy a home in a new city or a new state. Rent a VRBO or similar for 2/3 months and get a sense of where you really want to live. To save $5/10K they risk to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars and get stuck with a house they don't want. You can't return a home like you do with a pair of shoes.
12
We bought a house on the waterway,one block from the beach in Cocoa Beach,Fl. without ever seeing it until after closing. I had done a lot of research on line,but it was still a crazy thing to do! Luckily, we love the home ,the town,the schools,the neighbors,the rocket launches,and the space coast in general.
I feel very fortunate everything worked out as well as it did, but would not do it again.
5
I bought a condo sight unseen once, but only because I had visited my sister when she used to live in the development and because she was able to tour the condo for sale for me. Still, my offer was contingent on the results of a home inspection. I probably would not do this again as I am much fussier now.
5
I bough the house I am in now without seeing it first. What worked is buying a house I planned to gut, having an agent who was objective and had some knowledge about home building, having strong visual spacial skills and mostly, it's the sixth place I have bought, plus my career is in constructing stores, so I've been around a bit.
4
I never quite get it right in person. Don't think I could do it this way. Not quite the same as shopping for shoes online with no hassle returns.
3
I bought a rental property like this but my property manager did see it in person and gave me a report before we agreed to go ahead. She knew exactly what we were looking for and had enough experience to check out things like the basement (dry and not smelly). Photos and videos are notoriously retouched and skip the nasty bits. Even though I bought a rental property that way, I would never buy a place to live in without seeing it in person and, equally important, seeing the neighborhood in person at all times of the day and night. You are not just buying the property; you are buying into a community.
16
Don't get this at all!
If you afford to buy a $1.2 million home, or risk hundreds of thousands of dollars, then you can surely afford to spend a few hundred or thousand and fly there and see the house in person FIRST, before making an offer.
Clearly, some people have too much disposable income, think they are too busy, are too gullible about the market, and succumb too readily to real estate pitches.
Damp, dank basements; lack of parking; noisy neighbors; busy streets; loud nights: etc. are all what you'll end up with and deserve.
Plus, do not believe the buyers who said there were no problems — how many people will admit to being duped or fooled?
Finally, in at least one of the cases profiled, the husband did see the house in person, so it hardly qualifies as a couple or family buying a house sight unseen! It's still not something advisable to do — everyone in a family should see the house *in person* before making an offer.
As the old saw goes, “A fool and his money are soon parted!”
31
I totally agree. I made my largest (and hopefully last) home purchase in Brooklyn from halfway across the country, but my mother was able to view the listing to tell me if it was even worth pursuing, and then I flew out within 24 hrs. The apartment was an estate sale, and I was anticipating a gut renovation, but it was very important to get a feel of the building and street. I made an offer right away but arranged for a formal inspection as well while working out the contract. The home did turn out to be everything I wanted (after the renovation), but it was too big an investment to rely on FaceTime and the kindness of strangers.
5
Buy houses like stocks? Discount stock brokers have lowered costs for stocks, but the realtor monopoly continues to strangle efficient markets for houses.
8
We bought a pied a Terre in Tudor City on the description of the coop by our NYC broker. No pictures. Turned out great!
3
Well, Tudor City. Not much can go wrong there.
3
We recently had to sell an 18 month old car (not the best strategy but it had to be done). It was in perfect condition. We listed it for private sale Blue Book on an auto sale website and Craigslist.
Absolutely no one called. Finally we had to sell it to an auto dealership buyer for 2k less than Blue Book value.
The buyer told me that young people “buy online now” and he would list it in their “virtual showroom” for 3k more than he paid us and expected to sell if for 2500 over his price to us. Auto dealerships are responding to changes in purchasing habits with the creation of these buying forums. Far less overhead than a physical showroom.
So younger buyers will buy online, for top dollar? How shrewd is that? They could have bought it from us for at least 1k less. Same car as in the virtual showroom. Simply have it inspected for $150 and you have saved a lot of money.
How ‘high tech’ is it to spend more money just so you don’t have to do any leg work? It is a far more expensive way to make life’s major purchases. You will get burned by lazy purchasing habits sooner or later. Maybe it’s ok to buy a crockpot that way, but not a house or a car.
27
Real estate markets in the hottest areas are starting to look very much like bubbles. We've been here before!
Let's hope that when the crash comes it doesn't take the economy with it, as it did last time.
27
It happened during the 2001-2006 run up in prices. I remember it well because in 2001, my husband was laid off -- desperately took a job in another state -- requiring us to move. We had to buy (vs. rent) because A. we had a number of pets and the local apartments did not permit pets (or restricted them to 1 small dog or cat) and B. his EMPLOYER told him "we'll know you are serious about the job here, if you move your family and buy a home" -- he was on a probation period.
So we bought, but it was difficult because of how fast the market was moving. We made SIX offers that were outbid -- at full asking price! -- and finally what worked for us, was having our loan completely approved and set, ready to go -- and lying in wait for a house where the contract fell through (due the finances of the other buyer) and then POUNCING. But we barely succeeded; if we'd waited six month or a year, the prices would have escalated to the point we would have been knocked out of the house buying market completely. BTW: that home went from an asking price of $125K in 2000...to $360K in 2006. Then it crashed into the 5 figures by 2011 when it sold at foreclosure auction.
BE WARNED.
10
I think it's outrageous that a prospective employer would make a job contingent on buying a house, especially in a difficult situation requiring relocation to another state!
2
I wouldn’t work for an employer that makes such outrageous demands.
3