5 Tips for Buying Long Distance
If you’ve been thinking about ditching the snow shovel for a bucket full of sunshine in Arizona then stay tuned as I cover 5 tips for buying long distance.
1. The Phoenix and the surrounding suburbs is a sprawling area with tons of small communities to choose from so first make of list of what is important to you in this new home. Is it great schools, walkability, family-friendly, over 55 community etc… then start your research.
2. Define a couple of communities that fit the criteria outlined in step one and then find a local real estate agent who can assist you in your search. Their knowledge about the area will be invaluable, especially when it comes to writing a competitive offer. Our markets change daily so partnering with an agent who watches the market will be priceless.
3. Be realistic – plan to only see 6 houses each day 8 at the absolute max. If you try to see more than 8 homes in a day you will become very tired, grouchy and you won’t remember a bunch of them. I also recommend that you find a unique feature of each house, and maybe shoot a picture to help identify the home. This will come in handy when you go back and review what you saw each day.
4. Get prequalified before you ever head out to look. The last thing you want to do is to find your dream home and not be able to write an offer. Right now the market is highly competitive and there isn’t time to wait to get a lender to write you a preQual. It’s also better to get through some level of underwriting before you look so you can potentially do a shorter close and be able to better compete against a cash offer.
5. Plan to return for the final walk-through and possibly the inspection. If coming in twice is just not in the cards financially or for timing purposes then attending the final walk-through is the visit you need to make. The agent can attend the inspection wrap up and you’ll get a full report of the findings so you can possibly skip this visit but it’s good to be in-person to sign paperwork and see the home before you close.
The most helpful thing you can do is find a realtor advocate to assist you in this process. It will save you a ton of time and frustration. I know for my out-of-state buyers I will go and preview homes and either shoot a video to share or faceTime with them so they can see the flow and floorplan of the home. We all know that sometimes things don’t look as great in person as they do in photos so it's always best to see the home in "person" and determine if it's worth your time once you get to town.
If you have questions about buying long distance or about the Phoenix / Scottsdale are please reach out. I'm here to help!