7 Tips for Purchasing a Home Long Distance

Did you recently accept a new job that requires you to move to a completely different area?

Did you recently get military orders to move across the country or to a completely different country?

Here are some tips that can help make purchasing a new house a little easier!

1. Consider how far out you should be looking for a house

It takes about 30 to 45 days to close on a house once you get the house under contract. How long does it take to look for a house? Most agents can find you a home in one to two weeks. So, to be safe, you should start looking for homes about 60 days before you want to move in to the home.

2. How will you see the homes if you aren't in the area?

You can have someone in the area such as a friend or real estate professional tour homes virtually with you. You can have them FaceTime or Skype with you as they walk through the home. If you aren't able to virtually tour the homes, you can either look at pictures online, or have someone in the area send you additional pictures and videos of the homes. We call this buying a house sight unseen.

3. Plan a house hunting trip

In the military, you can do a permissive TDY in which you can take time off to take a trip to the area you will be moving to in order to find a house. We recommend taking four or five days to tour homes and get a feel of the area.

If none of these options work for you, you can always wait to buy a home when you officially move to the new area. Just know that you will need temporary housing for about 45 to 60 days.

4. Get pre-qualified or pre-approved

Talk to a lender or your bank to see what you can feasibly afford prior to looking at houses. This is imperative because we would hate for you to fall in love with a home, then later find out that you cannot get a loan for the cost of the home. Additionally, if you and another person put in the same offer for a home, and you are pre-qualified and the other person isn't, the seller is more likely to accept your offer because you have proof that you can afford the home.

5. Figure out the local community

Look at a map to get an idea of where everything is located. Find out where your job is so that you can account for the commute time to work. Check out the local school ratings if you have children. Find out what kind of fun stuff there is to do in the area to see if you want to live closer to those places. Learn where the banks, grocery stores, and other necessary places are located. This will help you determine what part of town you want to buy a house in.

6. Get educated on the home buying process upfront

Make sure that your real estate professional explains the home buying process to you. Here at the Whittemore Group, for example, we firmly believe in educating our clients. We offer a buyer's consultation in which we sit down and go over everything that you can expect during the home buying process.

7. Figure out what is available in your price range

After getting pre-qualified or pre-approved, set the right expectations. If you want, for example, a waterfront property in the Fort Walton Beach, FL area for $200,000, it probably doesn't exist. You can check out various websites or talk with a real estate professional and have them send you notifications as houses become available in your price range.

*Bonus tip* Hire a real estate professional

We're free! We will make sure you get the best house for the best price, given the market conditions. Before choosing an agent, do some research on them. Read their online reviews or take a look at their website, business Facebook page, or YouTube page. Also, ask a friend or colleague in the area who they recommend.

Looking for a real estate professional? We can help! You can contact us here!

Moving to Florida? Here are some things you may not know!