Would you buy a home sight unseen?

Bidding on a home before you’ve seen it in this hot market

With a rapidly reducing inventory of homes for sale, both in Lake Tahoe and around the country, a seller’s market has been created. It is also no longer unusual to have buyers bidding on a home that they haven’t even seen.

In a recent story in the San Francisco Chronicle,  many California real estate brokers described what they have been seeing, and experiencing.  Because of the lack of inventory, a new buyer profile has been created. They want to buy and will pay cash above the asking price and purchase sight unseen.

Buyers might make offers without seeing a house for several reasons:

• They live elsewhere or are away for business or personal reasons
• They had scheduling conflicts and couldn’t visit before bids were due
• They’re investors accustomed to buying just based on property characteristics
• They’re taking a scattershot approach of making lots of offers and seeing which get accepted
• Over-competitive market and burgeoning interest by international buyers

In Lake Tahoe, we have over 80% of those buying a homecoming from outside the area. Many of those buyers aren’t close enough to view a home first, but they want to buy a home so badly that they’ll present an offer and then evaluate it later. This could be a problem for buyers and sellers and I’ll explain in a future blog.

Technology helps to buy a home before viewing it

There are many tech tools that home buyers can use before buying a home, both if they see the home first or if they don’t. Our website uses the most up to date and accurate tools available, giving viewers current information.  Most listings come with many pictures of both the inside and the outside.  Since registered users are emailed the moment a home comes on the market, they are ahead of the curve.

We offer our clients a special service: we will preview most any home and take a video tour, our Preview Review feature.  The video with audio narrative will be emailed to potential buyers immediately, again keeping them ahead of the curve.

Our neighborhood page gives the buyer insight into the area, along with a video review of the area. We will provide comps – the comparable report of sales of like homes in the area.

Many buyers will rely on their real estate agent or broker’s opinion, especially if they are buying sight unseen.  It’s very important to build up a relationship where you can trust them to watch out for your every need. We focus our videos more from a consulting view instead of a sales approach.

Ready to Buy Lake Tahoe real estate?