Buying homes sight unseen

[PR1234]

From reading another thread, I was just wondering how many of you have bought your homes sight unseen? We did, but it is just a little seasonal place in Silver Lake. Saw it online, made an offer and the rest is history.

It all turned out very well for us, but now that we are looking for a another home and have gone to so many open houses, only to be disappointed.....I'm wondering how people make such a big investment without seeing the home first??

[upstate]

We did, though we knew the model after visiting twice but nothing about the neighborhood. Our realtor took additional photos and videos which definitely helped in making a cautious decision. Even though it is a seasonal home we did have those "what did we do moments". There were no real surprises when we first saw it in person and are glad we made the move.

[DaleDivine]

We bought our CYV sight unseen. It was new and only could tell about the corner lot(which is what mostly sold us) and a model layout. After it was completed, friends in Gilchrist took pix of it for us. No second thoughts here. Absolutely what we wanted.

[cmj1210]

We also bought sight unseen, close on Monday. We also bought new and had been down a few times so we knew the model. I also have a daughter not far away and she took 60 pictures for us. My realtor also took some but she did a much better job. We will be down to see it next Wednesday.

[DaleDivine]

We also bought sight unseen, close on Monday. We also bought new and had been down a few times so we knew the model. I also have a daughter not far away and she took 60 pictures for us. My realtor also took some but she did a much better job. We will be down to see it next Wednesday.

Congratulations CMJ. ::BigApplause::BigApplause::BigApplause:

[Wandatime]

We bought sight unseen as well. However, we'd made several trips down, knew the models from hours of studying the floor plans, and knew the villages from hours of studying the street map. When Colleen, our agent, called to let us know the model we liked in the village we liked with a pool we wanted was just getting ready to go on the market, we pounced. Like a Florida panther.

[OBXNana]

We've purchased once in the Outer Banks and another time in The Villages (3/14) without seeing the property before hand. For us, we had an amazing Realtor in the Outer Banks that walked through the house as we spoke on the phone. It was a pre-owned property that we saw pictures prior to her walk through. In The Villages, it was new construction and the sales person took pictures that told us exactly what we were buying. She also walked through as we were on the phone and her information was vital to our making a decision.

In both cases, we had someone we felt comfortable with giving us the facts of the property. Both, were in the business of selling real estate. With new construction it is under warranty, but with pre-owned, you have to have total confidence in the person giving you the information. This is our comfort zone. We also buy at auction and foreclosures and our comfort zone may be greater than someone else. This is simply our opinion and is an individual choice.

[Carpe Diem]

We bought sight unseen as well. However, we'd made several trips down, knew the models from hours of studying the floor plans, and knew the villages from hours of studying the street map. When Colleen, our agent, called to let us know the model we liked in the village we liked with a pool we wanted was just getting ready to go on the market, we pounced. Like a Florida panther.

Ditto. There are panthers in Florida?

It's our second house. Will be moving from our villa in Caroline (anyone interested?) Haven't seen it yet, but knowing the floor plan and neighborhoods and having seen pictures there's no angst - we know exactly what we bought.

[Wandatime]

[QUOTE=Carpe Diem;906309]Ditto. There are panthers in Florida?

There are black cats of some sort in Florida; I was making a silly reference to another thread. Back to houses. :angel:

[Barefoot]

From reading another thread, I was just wondering how many of you have bought your homes sight unseen?

We bought our first Villages home in 2007, a resale, sight unseen.
We knew we wanted a courtyard villa with a golf course view south of CR 466.
So when we saw one on the internet on MLS, we decided to grab it.
It's the best decision we ever made.
We loved our CYV for a few years, until we decided we needed a larger house and more garage space for a workshop.
We bought another resale, but we stayed in the same Village, because we ended up loving the location.

[mixsonci]

We did, though we knew the model after visiting twice but nothing about the neighborhood. Our realtor took additional photos and videos which definitely helped in making a cautious decision. Even though it is a seasonal home we did have those "what did we do moments". There were no real surprises when we first saw it in person and are glad we made the move.

I did the same, although I had seen most of the models, I hadn't seen mine and new nothing of the neighborhood. Got tenants right now, but will move in in January, I visited last December and my tenants let me come see it. I love it and can't wait to live in it. It's a Zinnia style.

[DONKEY10]

We did. We bought courtyard villa in Hillsborough and had no regrets realter sent us pictures. We didn't want to miss out because the whole courtyard villa section sold out in 2 months this year.

[rubicon]

From a macro view the set up of homes in TV is essentially the same, as are the floor plans. From a micro view the differences range from subtle to severe and because of this folks would be better to see for themselves. Additionally before settling its best to make one last sweep of the area to see if somehow you missed something.

since this is a person's most important purchase the old saw "buy in haste repent in leisure takes real significance

[Medtrans]

We bought a new home in Lake Deaton. See my post "arrived and departed". We love the house and I know we will love the neighborhood when we are there full-time. We also knew the different models and TV pretty well, and we had the map at home. We also did FaceTime inside and out with our realtor which is a pretty dandy thing to do. No regrets.

[justjim]

We purchased our first home, neighborhood villa, after being on a waiting list in March, 2006 over the phone. It was in the Village of Caroline and new.

[Bonanza]

Ditto. There are panthers in Florida?

It's our second house. Will be moving from our villa in Caroline (anyone interested?) Haven't seen it yet, but knowing the floor plan and neighborhoods and having seen pictures there's no angst - we know exactly what we bought.

Yes, there are panthers in Florida.

Panthers, pumas, mountain lions, cougars -- whatever you want to call them --
although endangered, the Florida panther exists here.

[sharoni]

My husband and I also bought a new CYV in Charlotte sight unseen. Looking for a Bonifay model had consumed our lives for months. We had wanted one on a corner, but very few are built on corner lots. Besides buying a new home, site unseen, we bought a furnished one...We had been looking at it for a few days and I woke up one morning and told my husband, let's get it. Called our realtor, who thought we had lost our minds. She took additional pictures for us. We closed a couple weeks later, with no regrets. And a surprise to us both, we had the room for a pool. Added bonus!

[DigitalGranny]

We also bought before we toured the house, but knew the area and used skype and our realtor carrying his iPad around and answering our questions, as a surrogate for in person visit. Love our choice and there were no surprises when we arrived!

[ljarnold]

We bought site unseen. Saw the outside of a resale. Put an offer in on the way home at a Staples. We looked at each other and thought what are we doing. One of the best decisions we have made. Very happy with the neighborhood and the home.

[Barefoot]

.... since this is a person's most important purchase the old saw "buy in haste repent in leisure takes real significance

Rubicon, most of us who bought "sight unseen" are very happy with our decision!

[Halibut]

Because we were moving back from overseas, we bought houses in Denver and Minneapolis just from looking at the MLS photos. We did it again when we came to The Villages because we wanted to have a place waiting when we arrived with the U-Haul.

We've been very happy in all three of the unseen homes, so no regrets. It's an added bonus for me because going to open houses is, like, one of the world's most tedious tasks. "No, no, you go. Whatever you like is fine with me, hon." :)

[Deseylou]

We almost bought sight unseen
We found a CYV that we liked in Ventura Villas
We have 2 golden retrievers and we needed room for them and a pool
We found out that this particular floor plan had been stretched in all the bedrooms and living room.
We didn't liver very far from here, so we raced down to take a look
We were actually on the house looking when we got the call, that we got the house
Debbie

[asianthree]

It would not be hard foe us. We know what models we want