Hello and welcome back to a whole new chapter of buying a house! I know I’ve been MIA for literally over a year. However, I had a much needed break that allowed me to focus on my family and personal life before I could give it my all again in blogging.
This year has been very eventful for our family, we not only purchased out first home, but we also did it across-country in a completely new province, and bought sight unseen. YIKES!
We’ve been knee deep in renovations and projects for the past 6 months.
Buying a house sight-unseen was already a scary thought, but to actually arrive and have a whole bunch of things to fix/change is a whole other beast.
We knew the risks of buying a home unseen. But we already spent 6 months of being outbid on more than 6 houses, and just couldn’t wait any longer.
We bought a house without an inspection. AND without seeing it in person! We got LUCKY that our problems were not super expensive. But when I tell you that this house was CHALK-FULL of problems – I really mean there wasn’t a single corner of the house we didn’t change/or are in the process of changing/fixing.
Do as I say, not as I do.
This was a nightmare to juggle two jobs, a toddler, and 3 floors worth of renovations all at once. Give yourself a breather and do it in chunks! Or at least create one safe haven room which doesn’t
To start, I’d like to go over the things to be aware of when buying a property. Especially when you don’t get to physically see yourself:
- Find yourself a really diligent real estate agent who will do IN-DEPTH video calls with you; someone who will be honest about the problems.
- Have a list of make it or break it priorities that you are willing to deal with.
- If at all possible, do the inspection.
- Research the neighborhoods.
Real Estate Agent
Having a good real estate agent is IMPERATIVE when buying a house. Originally we had been searching for a house on the east coast, specifically in Nova Scotia, and after a few viewings quickly felt that the agent wasn’t really representing or looking for the details we were hoping for. The market in NS was very aggressive!!! But also had strange rules for bids… so we were always left waiting a week until the end-time for bidding was done. The showings were often very quick, with very little time to get a good idea of the property. So our video calls felt rushed, and the connection often cut out in a way that we didn’t see details of the floor, or cleanliness, upkeep, etc.
Ask friends!
Friends of ours, who recently bought in NS, went through SIX agents before they got the one they liked!
Once we knew we had to pivot to another province (this actually worked out much better for us for both of our job opportunities), we ended up going to a new agent who was so much better. She paid a lot more attention to detail in walkthroughs, making sure to look at things like sloped ceilings, water damage, DIY renovations and any patch jobs.
Sadly at the time that we found our current home, our agent was on vacation and had a replacement rep come in. While perfectly nice, he did a horrible job running through the house without seeing any details! However, we loved the house so much (100% emotional), that we bit the bullet anyway.
As you can see below the staging photo vs. the up-close honest look at what we arrived to. All the edges and water damage were not visible on the staged photos, but in real life were very obvious and glaring.
Knowing what we know now, we 100% would have offered less that what we did. Because as I will explain in another post, there were dozens and dozens and DOZENS. of problems all throughout.
Please take my word for it – get an agent you feel is representing YOU and your needs. Not just someone who wants a quick buck.
Having a List of House Priorities
Having a list of priorities is so huge and when we first started searching we were quite wishy washy on. But quickly as we started seeing more and more homes realized that we were actually quite picky. In an aggressive market, making sacrifices just needed to happen for us. For example, despite our smaller rental home before, we felt that while gaining 1k sq feet we actually downsized in storage.
My husband and I knew that as far as our must haves we broke it down into the following:
- 4+ bedrooms. No chance we could fit our 2 WFH selves, a child (+ hopefully a future sibling), and ourselves into anything smaller.
- Kitchen with lots of storage – I cook so much that it would be impossible to manage otherwise.
- A finished basement (even if not updated).
- Garage entry – after living in a home without one for 5 years, we wanted this SO badly!
Bonuses were things like:
- Pantry
- Treed backyard
- Double car garage
- Fireplace
- 3+ bathrooms
Though I didn’t get my big shaded backyard, or updated bathrooms, after all said is done I’m still happy.
House Inspection
Now, as I mentioned above, we forwent the home inspection out of desperation. But in truth after doing ours our first week in the house, the inspector actually found some massive red flags. Again, fortunately they didn’t cost a fortune to fix, but a red flag is a red flag. When buying a house sight unseen, it’s worth the inspection every time.
We found out that the main breaker switch was actually shorting out (to the point of huge sparks and charred metal), and was holding on by a thread before a fire could break out. Worst of all, because it was the Main Breaker, if that thing went, nothing would trip the power to shut off. A few hundred bucks later, the problem was fixed, but not without stress.
Issues, issues, issues!
Other issues that we found upon getting to the house that the inspector noted were bad seals on windows (again costly fixes), broken downspouts outside of the house, attic rain stains (which were luckily old and appeared to be fixed, lacking some insulation in areas. Our shed placement was not up to code, and other small details like loose toilets.
However, this is where I wish someone was just doing a very thorough tour. Because when we got here we realized that ALL of our doors were different styles, and a lot of them missing doorknobs. Our hood range was installed backwards, there were misaligned doors, mismatched trim, baseboards of literally every size (or some spaces that didn’t have any at all – closets for example), lots of wear and tear to walls, unstained beam in the basement, etc etc etc. The main kitchen island was in REALLY rough shape, and the lighting throughout the house was all awkwardly uncentered. So our hands were full when it came to projects and simply “fixing” all the inconsistencies in the house. Had we known these issues, we would’ve likely passed on this home. But once we were here, there was no choice but to buckle up and get to it.
Neighborhood Research
Now, this point seems pretty obvious, but as far as locations when buying a house sight unseen in a city you’ve never been in, it can be pretty overwhelming to search up neighborhood info. A lot of the time you rely on your agent to give you the best advice, but while said agent may weigh an average neighborhood higher than a crappy neighborhood, that doesn’t mean where you are looking is always ideal.
And when I say crappy neighborhood, I don’t just mean crime rates, or shady business. That info is a lot more accessible online, but I’m talking more about the things like:
- Access to amenities – grocery stores, schools (and specifically what type of schools), pharmacies, vets, etc.
- Community – is this an active community? Is it close-knit? Are you looking for a place that is quiet, or filled with kids in the streets in the summertime?
- Reputation – we got lucky when it came to our location, because truth be told we didn’t know much about it other than “it’s a really great area”. But as it turns out the HOA community we are in is actually highly desired, which in turn means selling our house down the line should be a little easier.
Some helpful sites that helped us were: hoodmaps.com, facebook community groups, and we referenced and watched a lot of Chamberlain Real Estate Group videos.
Conclusion of Buying a House Unseen
While the above points cover some info, it definitely doesn’t cover it all. Buying a house is no joke, we were so stressed, so overwhelmed, and absolutely crazy busy with moving and packing that life really did force us to take a hiatus on all the things we loved just to get here. Buckle up for a tough ride, but a very worthwhile one!
As I said before, while I would’ve likely passed on this house had I seen the amount of work needed. The fact that we didn’t AND we got all that work done makes me love this home now! I can’t wait to show you all our projects and hard work.
Thanks for reading!
