Hunting for a new home online is a great place to start your search, but it can be difficult to truly evaluate the pros and cons of a home from afar. Good listing agents are excellent at highlighting the best features of the home, but keep in mind there may be more there than meets the eye. To make the most of your time and efforts and gather a well-rounded picture of home listings online, keep the following three things in mind.
Stay up to date. When you start your search, make sure you find a site that pulls up-to-date listings directly from the multiple listing service (MLS) where real estate agents actively post their most current homes for sale. Many online resources update less often or fail to remove listings that are off the market, making it more difficult to sort through the clutter. https://www.reddooragency.com updates multiple times a day so you know you have the most recent MLS info. This helps you avoid falling in love with a house, only to be disappointed when you find out it's fresh-off-the-market.
Pictures can be deceiving. Real estate photographers are experts at showing a home in the best possible light. Many use tools and strategies to boost appeal, such as a fisheye lens to make areas look larger and creative editing to make colors and textures really pop. Often, listings will not contain photos of unappealing parts of the home, like small closets or outdated bathrooms. Unfortunately, more and more listings contain photos that are not properly representing the size and condition of the homes they present. My clients and I visited a worse than usual example of this not so long ago. What looked like a spacious, updated Cape Cod online turned out to be a tight, chopped up, DIY problem. Which leads us to number three...
See it to believe it. Once you find what appears to be your dream home online, call up your real estate agent and schedule a showing. You want to take the opportunity to vet the home in person and explore every part of it before beginning the offer process. Your real estate agent will help you cover all your bases and will ask questions you may not have thought of. If you are searching for a new home in another state as many people are these days, your agent should be able to do a virtual showing for you. I've been able to help several long-distance clients find their new home by doing a video walkthrough while talking about all the things I can see, feel, smell, or hear. I love being able to provide this service!
You may look at a lot of houses before you find The One, but the process should be fun! Hopefully these tips will help you avoid a few disappointments along the way.
Brooke Pennington
TN/VA REALTOR®
Red Door Agency
📪 136 W Main St Kingsport TN 37660
☎️ Office 423.541.0256
📱 Mobile | Call or Text 423.823.1349
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