At first, the buying a home without having taken a tour to see it in person might seem like an odd choice. When it comes down to it, there are actually a few scenarios in which making an offer on a home that you haven’t toured might seem like a good idea. You might be buying a home in a new part of the country that you currently aren’t in and hope to have a property secured before your move or it might be a home that is getting a lot of attention and you want to get an offer in quickly. You might even consider skipping the tour due to lingering concerns about the pandemic or other equally valid reasons.

While there are definitely reasons to skip out on a tour, doing that can be a bad idea, and maybe not for the reasons you think. Here are some of those reasons below.

Why you should take the tour

One of the most obvious reasons to take a home tour is so that you can ask questions about parts of the home that may not be covered in an online profile. Signs of leaks or water damage might not be highlighted in photos and other indicators of past damage are easy to overlook if you don’t see them in person. By identifying them during a tour, you can find out if repairs have been made or if there are other surprises waiting for you after your purchase.

That’s not the only reason that you’ll want to do the tour yourself though. By touring a home, you can get a better feel for how the house will actually fit in with your lifestyle and your personal tastes. It can help you identify all the little things in the home that you’ll love that the photos may have missed, as well as those parts of the house that you’re probably going to want to have some work done to fix up or remove. Touring a home before making an offer gives you a better idea of how much work you’ll need to put into the house to get it to be exactly the home that you want.

Virtual and proxy tours

There are a few options available when you cannot be there in person to take the tour. An increasingly popular option is the virtual tour, which can be either prerecorded or live depending on who’s listing the home. Live virtual tours are much better option when they’re available, since with a live tour you have the Realtor (and sometimes even the sellers) there walking you through the property with a video feed and answering any questions that you might have in real time.

Another option that might be available to you is a proxy tour. In this case, someone you know (or someone acting as your representative) goes through an in-person tour and ask questions that you’ve prepared ahead of time. They may also take pictures or video for you, highlighting potential problems or points of interest to make sure that you’re aware of them. While this isn’t as good as a virtual tour that you take part in directly, a proxy tour is still better than no tour at all.

Making plans after the tour

Once you’ve taken your tour and made your offer, you might already have some ideas in your head about repairs, remodels and other changes you’d like to make. We can help you find the contractors and other professionals you’ll need to hit the ground running once the purchase is complete. Give us a call and let us be your real estate resource for life.