Buying a house by looking at pictures on computer
 

Has anyone really bought a house without literally looking at it in person. I see a house that I like, but afraid by the time I get there, it will be gone. My husband does not want to do that as pictures are deceiving. Like the burger that they advertise on TV but do not actually look like that when you buy it.

We did. Found our dream house online and put an offer in.

We did, too. Liked the pictures online and contacted a Village's salesperson, Tony Trussler. He went to the house and took about 20 more pictures inside and out and sent them to us. We replied back with the money to take it off the market and will be here 2 years this coming Sept. Have never had any doubts about our decision.

Besides the house you need a look @ the neighborhood and traffic patterns, also how close are the nearest houses: i.e.: kissing lanais--also the demographics IMHO are the further north an older community (people wise) further south younger (people wise)

My wife's nephew inherited a patio villa in Hialeah Villa's-he's 55 and he commented " wow this place is full of really old people"--he rents it 7months a year

My sis did.

Pretty hard to post deceiving pictures, it's not like the burger, which is NOT the picture of the actual burger you will buy. It is, like was mentioned, best to have someone, a friend or your real estate person (Tony Trussler is great) look at it and take additional pics and give you his/her lowdown on what they see. We bought our current house in Missouri based primarily on the pics we saw online, though being nearby, we of course verified our impressions with a walk through. I have heard numerous stories of people buying in TV sight unseen. If you have been here and gone to open houses, you have had a chance to see most home models and how they are laid out.

In late April we started shopping for a home. We picked out 3 CYVs form photos, 2 were sold from under us, we almost missed the 3rd but we were lucky since the pending sale fell thru. My wife could not be with me so I flew down and looked at the property liked it and we bought it. She still hasn’t seen in live she will in a few weeks when we head south. Bottom line I would have put a deposit with the contingency in place if it’s not what I wanted after seeing it I would not have to buy. I too am of the mindset you have to see it. There was also a 4th CYV my wife loved it, it was turnkey, when I arrived to look at it in person I realized why it had not sold, the roof was bowed over the garage and a golf cart path was just below the backyard.

After doing some research on The Villages, decided on what type of home and areas.
Found an interesting listing on Zillow after some searching,
the pics looked good, contacted a salesperson.
Got more information, and them made an offer.
We had a great salesperson which helped a lot.
It worked out better than we could have imagined.
It’s been just over 3 years and still happy as can be!

Anywhere but the villages, I would say you were a moron to do that. However, it is different in TV. First of all, there are only so many models - if you have been in one Begonia, it is much like another except finishes. Also, every house is built by the Villages, so you know what you are getting. You also pretty much know what was original and what was an add on. All this said, it then comes down to furnishings/decorations (which are the pictures in the listing), Location and Yard/View. The last 2 things you can see on Google Earth. If you have been in TV at all, you kind of know the personalities of the different areas, so you can make an informed decision.

I am saying all this assuming you have spent some time in TV and have been in the model of house you are buying. If not, I would not buy from Pictures. If you have, I would go for it.

If it is not a new house - I would have an inspection done - make the offer contingent to an inspection - and then use one of the inspectors with good reviews on this site.

My understanding is that TV will not sell new homes with any contingencies. You would have to put down earnest money on a contract and if you changed your mind the earnest money would be forfeited.

I could see doing it if you have spent some time here and are very familiar with the area and even the floor plans. After making many visits here over the past several years and going to open houses almost daily during our visits, we got very familiar with the floor plans and many of the areas. We did not buy a house by finding it online and looking at pictures but probably could have at that point. As other's have said, you need to also consider other things that might be important to you that won't be shown in pictures, like the surrounding homes, proximity to other things, the view (if any), etc. Looking at where the property sits on a map view can be helpful as well. Also, you can get good information by going to the county tax collector site and pull up information by the address, especially if it's a pre-owned home. Everyone here will share with you that the average villager buys 3 homes in their lifetime here. I suspect many buy their second home because they did not do enough research and consideration of their first home. I have talked to several who either did not even move furniture into their first home, or at least did not even bother to hang pictures on the wall, because they were not happy with their first choice and immediately moved on to a different home. One bought a lot and did a build in a new area where not much was standing at the time. By the time their home was finished and they moved in, they realized their lanai backed up to a street so busy they could not sit out and make a phone call for all of the noise outside. They promptly moved to a different home and sold the first one.

Growth is rapid and continuous. Yes the prices keep going up. But it's still worth spending the time to find the right home for you in the right location, location, location. They are not running out of homes or locations any time soon.

This is true and it's difficult to even find a pre-owned home that will take any sort of contingency. On a new home, first you can put it on a 3 hour hold. Before the 3 hours is up, you can hold it for like 7 days if you put $2500 (non-refundable) down. After that period, you have to pay the balance of 10% of the sales price, minus the $2500. At that point, you are scheduled to close in 30 days. Now, if you happen to change your mind because you see something you like better - will they work with you to move the deposit to the other home? I've heard of that but don't know if it's official policy. But I doubt seriously they just give your money back if you change your mind altogether. I talked to a couple, once, that put a deposit on a home one day and then woke up in the middle of the night that night and realized they would rather have a different home they saw, and they were allowed to make the change. However, that was less than 24 hours in and may have been an exception due to that.

We did, it was on a new 2 BR masonry CVY. When it comes to CYV's, you cannot have one built to specs or a lot of your choosing, you have to select from the inventory and the villa community that is currently under construction. So really it wasn't that big a gamble. At the time there were only six CYV models, and only two were 2 BR models. One had a 10' breakfast bar and the other had an eat-in kitchen. We wanted the 2 BR with the bar, masonry and the price was right. To me, there was no reason to drive 950 miles to see a place that was almost identical to what we had looked at 3 weeks earlier but in a different villa community.

Once you've added landscaping, paint the inside (light blue), add your window treatments (plantation shutters), backsplash, stainless steel appliances, wood floors, garage screen, lanai and patio furniture, you've made it your own. Plus they had reduced the price and then while talking with our salesman on the phone, they reduced it again. It suddenly was only $15K more than a patio villa.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...pskbigljl4.jpg

Beautiful villa.

Additionally, some folks do not want to see high tension wires within close proximity of their home, while others prefer not to have a towering water tank near their backyard. These kinds of things most likely would not be apparent in online photos so if they are a deal-breaker for you, it may behoove you to inquire about them.

We did a resale home and the one we really wanted was one that was unfortunately sold before we could even make an offer. The realtor did say that within 72 hours of my arrival I could put a dp on it. When I arrived if it wasn’t a home I wanted they would allow me to pick another home. Not sure what would have really happened because that CYV went pending before we entered that 72 hour window.

When I was looking I paid more attention to floor plans than pictures. Pictures can be deceiving. Good house photographers can make a room look twice its size.

Before we go to look at a house, we always use Google Earth. It does an amazing job in viewing the house from the air, from the street, etc. We once fell in love with a house online and Google-earthed it only to discover it was next door to a hospital parking lot.

Another time the listing said the house had deeded access to the lake, so we Googled-earthed to the lake and discovered it was a mile away, and there was no parking lot!

Good Earth is free but it does take some time in learning how to manipulate it to your viewing angles. You can even move the images further away to see what the entire block is like, etc. Practice with your own house.

One more thing....have realtor or someone draw the floor plan for you. You may discover the closest toilet is pretty far away from the garage.

we bought over the internet. our agent,
Matt O'neil, sent us pictures and then
did a facechat walk through. we were already
familiar with Village home designs and the
Fenney area. No regrets.

Some folks may have success. Our story---we nearly put an offer (were on the phone with a realtor and about to sign and fax) but pulled back at the last minute. We were coming down anyway so decided to wait to look at the place in person. SOOOOO glad we did as while it looked great in photos...not so much when we actually saw it.

Yes, we purchased with just pictures in 2013. My dad and his wife rented in TV the high season in 2008. I visited twice that winter. In December of 2008 they brought an Amarillo model (now called a Sun-kissed). The whole family came down in November of 2009. My husband really loved it so did my 11, 14, and 17 year old kids. I came down the coldest weeks of the winter in 2010 and 2011, plus Christmas 2011. Visited December 2012 and looked at new models homes with my husband. I really did not want a house like my dads but I liked that model the best. In January of 2013, visited with my daughter (who was now 20). We were looking at houses and having my husband look at them online. We realized he did not need to see the house to buy it. A house would be sold before we could see it the next day. Went home and looked at houses on the website almost daily. We had a village sales person looking for us, too. In late April, our house came on the market. We purchased it. We thought of the house as a place holder house. We would rent it out for the busy months and live in it for a year once we moved down full-time. After a year we planned to sell and move to a newer (younger crowd) neighborhood. BUT we love our Neighbors and no longer plan to move. They have welcomed us with open arms. They are fantastic. Out house is in Summerhill and we like how close it is to 466.

If you know the floor plan you want (which you can see drawings of on the website), and on a pre-owned you can have an inspection contingency. You can buy without actually "seeing it."

We purchased in 2007 from an internet listing. No disappointments. We backed on a golf course which we wanted.
We outgrew the CYV and moved to a larger home in 2010.
We bought in the same Village because we love our location (mid Village).

I've done this three times when moving back from overseas or between states for jobs, in TX, CO, and here. I had a friend in TV who did quick looksees for me on my top three choices and reported back, but the other moves were photos only. The places were all under 20 years old and I was mostly concerned about cleanliness and that the inspections didn't reveal any major problems. Was pleased each time.

The motivating factor was to have a place waiting for me when I arrived in the new locations; I REALLY did not want to lease a temporary apartment, get settled in, and then have to move again when I found a house. It helped that my requirements were "comfortable and within my budget" rather than "dream."

I don't think I could do it. Before I plunked down the kind of money it would take to buy a house, I'd want to see it, touch it, poke in the corners, and look around at all of the things that may have been carefully omitted from the photographs, (as mentioned, high tension lines too near would disappoint me), and certain things that simply can't be put into pictures like ambient noise, and smell.

Yes that is how my husband feels. I just see many nice houses on the internet and feel we are losing out. My husband says there will be plenty for us to see when we get down there. Hopefully soon from Long Island.

The only thing you could possibly miss out on are better prices. There was a price increase last month, at least on all the new homes still for sale near me, and an agent shared with my wife yesterday that there will be another hike in September. The homes themselves are a plenty. They are building 2 new golf courses over around DeSoto and McClure and we can already see that there will be some villas and homes going in soon that will have nice golf and water views if that's what you are looking for. Lots of homes in Fenney with water views but 0 have golf views as the courses that are in Fenney are isolated with no home sites.

I would not rely on photos exclusively. The job of the person taking the photos is to make your house look as good as possible. For interiors, they like to use a lot of flash lighting to make the house seem "bright" when in actuality it could be quite dark (especially if the walls are painted in a dark color). Wide angle lenses make the rooms seem more spacious. And anything objectionable will not be shown in the exterior photos. We looked at a beautiful house years ago that would have been great except for the huge antenna in the back yard, that was never shown in any of the photos.

It might be a good idea to look at a Google Earth or Google Street View of the house before you send your money off.

Those really old people are fun-loving huggable friends, give them a try, we are all heading that way, if we're lucky enough to spend the rest of our retirement in pardise!

We did it
 

Hi,
We just closed Tuesday on one we did that exact thing on. Saw the house on-line and liked the look of it from the pictures. Contacted the sales agent from the Villages we had been working with and made an offer with a contingency giving us 7 days to come down and view it in person. Couldn't be happier!

My daughter who was living in California did this recently on a house in Maryland. She had her agent (whom she had never met in person) check it out and made it contingent on her seeing the house, inspections and so on. She had never been to the neighborhood as far as I know but an uncle of mine had lived nearby; my daughter knew the area in general and had friends from college living nearby - one of them had got her the agent. It turned out the owners had a growing young family and needed more space. They moved not far away. Also the neighbors are great!

My concerns would be had smokers lived in the house? Did the owners have cats? What are the neighbors like? Are there traffic issues? Power lines? Had the house been the site of a major crime, had someone with a highly infectious disease resided there or was the house notorious for some reason?

i used to invest in real estate and it was always 'boots on the ground'. Since i wanted to be able to walk to lsl i came down and made sure. i doubt i'll ever move again.

Some people get mail order brides this way.

We bought our 2nd home in The Villages sight unseen. We only had 8 interior pictures. We were in Seattle when a home "similar" to one we had looked at dropped in price to our price point. Salesman called Friday evening while we were flying in - knew it was the last CYV 2 car garage available in the area and knew it wouldn't last until we got back.

Called Saturday morning, sent them money - and now couldn't be happier. It was everything we wanted that was not in our first home and more!

My husband any my first purchase was this way. We visited in spring of 2011, looked around, got a feel for what we wanted. When one that met our criteria became available, we got a call from our agent. He sent photos and videos through e-mail. We purchased that property. Keep in mind, we already had the model of CYV selected, and that is what we bought. It was a new home.

I'm so glad we bought sight unseen in 2007, and didn't overthink it.....
We knew the CYV backed on a golf course, so we'd have privacy guaranteed.
We ended up with wonderful neighbors (most people feel that way).

This has been a most interesting thread. I have looked at TV homes on line for several years, and often thought I could see myself living in this house. When I go to The Villages, I try to visit as many open houses as I can in my price range so I get an idea of neighborhoods, room sizes, distance to shopping, etc.

One MLS agent has posted a few videos on YouTube of him touring homes a customer is interested in. Apparently she was shopping for TV homes from a distance. In the videos, he also included the surrounding neighborhood homes and the distance from the back of one house to Buena Vista Blvd. and the back of another house to Belvedere Blvd.

Thank you for starting this thread, Tomcat!

Nice thing about google maps is you can see everything, pretty much everyone knows where the power lines are. As far as noise, that can change in 15 minutes. Our first house we were first to close on the street, at night it was so quiet, you sometimes walked to the end of the drive to see if there was life. We all loved the quiet on our street enjoy the closeness of our neighborhood, and the block parties in the driveways.

Then at 6 months, 8 houses down a guy with a passion for woodworking moved in.
Staring at 5am, till sometimes midnight, it was like living in a commercial zone. Not only the noise, but friends over to use the equipment.
Neighbors politely asked to keep noise at reasonable hours, then community watch, then houses on both sides, and across the street went up for sale. So the quiet neighborhood you move into can change overnight

You can't pick your family...or your neighbors.


You can only hope that both...are reasonably palatable.


At least with the latter...you can do something about. :shrug:

We bought our's three yrs ago =only saw pics on-line