Have you ever bought a house

[DawnM]

either sight unseen or in just a weekend visit?

 

This is not related to my other thread.  But in talking to a realtor, she says a lot of people do it here.  I am in NC and people come down from "up North."  They come for a weekend and pick a house, or they buy sight unseen (usually familiar  with the area though.)

 

I couldn't do this.  Even if I am buying in the area, I like to drive buy several times, get a feel for the neighborhood or area, possibly meet a neighbor or two, etc.....

 

Maybe I am over-thinking buying?  It took us three months of looking to pick where we live now and that was with me not working and looking several times per week.

 

 

[bettyandbob]

I couldn't, but I've never moved more than a few hours drive

[Spryte]

Not sight unseen.

 

But in a weekend - yes. We saw our current house once, and made an offer. We didn't know the area, but based it on the look and feel and public records of the area.

 

My parents did this as well, growing up. Military family, and often my mom went house shopping alone, with just kids.

 

ETA: we were in a hot market. Our house had four offers that day, it's first day on the market. So waiting wasn't really an option.

Edited September 2, 2017 by Spryte

[DawnM]

Not sight unseen.

 

But in a weekend - yes. We saw our current house once, and made an offer. We didn't know the area, but based it on the look and feel and public records of the area.

 

My parents did this as well, growing up. Military family, and often my mom went house shopping alone, with just kids.

 

Do you still love it?  Would you have chosen differently given more time?

[Spryte]

Do you still love it? Would you have chosen differently given more time?

Oh goodness, I adore our house. It's been two years, and I still walk through and marvel that we found it. Our family joke is every time we drive up we act as though we're seeing it for the first time. It's silly but it suits us so well.

 

I edited to add that there were four offers on our house that first day. We were chosen because the former owners watched us looking at it. Our DD was the same age as hers when they moved in, and we looked at the property and gardening first, before inside. They liked us (DH had a compass out, I guess the former owner had done the same). One of the other offers continued writing letters to the former owner until we closed, asking them to break our contract. We didn't know that until we had dinner with the previous owners, for a hello/goodbye get to know the house dinner.

 

We adore the neighbors. That was luck.

 

But yes, yes, still love the house.

Edited September 2, 2017 by Spryte

[DawnM]

Oh goodness, I adore our house. It's been two years, and I still walk through and marvel that we found it. Our family joke is every time we drive up we act as though we're seeing it for the first time. It's silly but it suits us so well.

 

I edited to add that there were four offers on our house that first day. We were chosen because the former owners watched us looking at it. Our DD was the same age as hers when they moved in, and we looked at the property and gardening first, before inside. They liked us (DH had a compass out, I guess the former owner had done the same). One of the other offers continued writing letters to the former owner until we closed, asking them to break our contract. We didn't know that until we had dinner with the previous owners, for a hello/goodbye get to know the house dinner.

 

We adore the neighbors. That was luck.

 

But yes, yes, still love the house.

 

That is awesome.

 

I have to admit, we have always lucked out on good neighbors.  The only bad ones I had were when I lived in a condo and was renting.  We have now owned 4 houses and have been fortunate.  We are praying that fortune continues.  In CA we actually were the ones who bought the "bad" neighbor's houses.  People were just thankful we were there. :-)

 

[Guest]

Well, I have lived in custom-built homes twice, which were, in a way, sight unseen, because they didn't exist yet. :) Maybe that's not exactly the same thing, but there is an element of "well I hope it works as well in real life as it seems to on the plans..."

 

We have bought rental properties that I personally had not seen, only DH, but that is also not exactly the same thing.

 

I can't say I would never possibly do the weekend visit thing, especially if I was moving to a retirement area.

[Carrie12345]

I don't know what else the average someone could do in a hot market and/or long distance move, other than rent first.

 

We bought relatively fast (backed out of a build and didn't want to extend our rental since we wouldn't have a build period) but we came back to this house repeatedly. Like, to the point that the realtor would just give us the keys to come on our own instead of spending yet another hour with us, lol. (It was empty.). But we didn't get enough of a feel for the development.

 

I hate our development.

[DawnM]

I don't know what else the average someone could do in a hot market and/or long distance move, other than rent first.

 

We bought relatively fast (backed out of a build and didn't want to extend our rental since we wouldn't have a build period) but we came back to this house repeatedly. Like, to the point that the realtor would just give us the keys to come on our own instead of spending yet another hour with us, lol. (It was empty.). But we didn't get enough of a feel for the development.

 

I hate our development.

 

 

Oh no.  What do you hate about it?

[DawnM]

Well, I have lived in custom-built homes twice, which were, in a way, sight unseen, because they didn't exist yet. :) Maybe that's not exactly the same thing, but there is an element of "well I hope it works as well in real life as it seems to on the plans..."

 

We have bought rental properties that I personally had not seen, only DH, but that is also not exactly the same thing.

 

I can't say I would never possibly do the weekend visit thing, especially if I was moving to a retirement area.

 

Had you at least visited the area enough to know what/wnere you were buying?  

[Carrie12345]

Oh no. What do you hate about it?

Ugh.

There's little to no community spirit.

Our board is always run by fuddy duddies.

Our lakes are always closed for ecoli.

Our pools are often closed because we don't pay lifeguards competitively.

Our road management sucks.

Our wildlife management sucks.

Our dues are high for what we (don't really) get.

Driving to the mailbox annoys me, though it's better than the post office 8 miles away.

It's probably one of the most inconvenient locations in the general area.

And I'm not allowed to have chickens. :-p

( I didn't know I'd want chickens.)

[sgo95]

We've owned two houses and bought them both long-distance.  Both times we did a ton looking (online) for months before and then took a couple weekend trips to check out neighborhoods in person and walk through houses.  We have loved the houses we've bought, both neighborhood-wise and the houses themselves.  I couldn't do it sight unseen, though.  

[Guest]

Had you at least visited the area enough to know what/wnere you were buying?

For my homes? Not really, in the second instance. In the first instance, DH had bought a lot near his parent's home before we met, so I didn't have an influence over that choice. But in the second instance, no, not really. We are not in a "neighborhood", though, so there wasn't really a question about neighbors. (We do have neighbors of a sort, but we are on acres in the woords, so there aren't neighbors strolling around; they only come here if they are coming here on purpose.)

[DawnM]

For my homes? Not really, in the second instance. In the first instance, DH had bought a lot near his parent's home before we met, so I didn't have an influence over that choice. But in the second instance, no, not really. We are not in a "neighborhood", though, so there wasn't really a question about neighbors. (We do have neighbors of a sort, but we are on acres in the woords, so there aren't neighbors strolling around; they only come here if they are coming here on purpose.)

 

 

i guess I am asking how far away you lived previously.  Were you several states away and bought sight unseen?  Or were you at least familiar with the area.

[DawnM]

Ugh.

There's little to no community spirit.

Our board is always run by fuddy duddies.

Our lakes are always closed for ecoli.

Our pools are often closed because we don't pay lifeguards competitively.

Our road management sucks.

Our wildlife management sucks.

Our dues are high for what we (don't really) get.

Driving to the mailbox annoys me, though it's better than the post office 8 miles away.

It's probably one of the most inconvenient locations in the general area.

And I'm not allowed to have chickens. :-p

( I didn't know I'd want chickens.)

 

 

:crying:

[medawyn]

Our current house I bought on a 60 hour trip to a city I had never been to in a state I hadn't even driven through. We dropped a pin on a map at DH's new office and used that as a reference point. We scoped out houses online to the best of our ability and hired a realtor from HR's recommendation. We LOVE the house, and the neighborhood and area work well.

 

It helped that I had a very specific wish list, and that we were moving to a relatively small city. I was 28 weeks pregnant with two little ones, and I did not want to deal with the hassle of renting then moving again.

 

Conversely, our previous house was in the SF Bay Area. We rented for a year and it took me 8 months of looking to narrow down the area and a house we loved that we could afford. That house sold in 24 hours!

 

We've already talked about what will happen when we move next, which hopefully won't be for a while but is inevitable. We'll most likely be moving to a larger metropolitan area, so renting seems the most likely plan. Since I'm currently pregnant with what we plan to be our last, it is highly unlikely I'll be moving while pregnant/with a newborn and hopefully it's far enough in the future that I'm down to one toddler.

Edited September 2, 2017 by medawyn

[Hilltopmom]

Military family growing up, my parents always rented sight unseen for short assignments or bought over a weekend trip for longer ones.

Seems crazy to me now with the way we ( obsess) buy houses these days.

[teachermom2834]

We have alwasy bought quickly. I think it is a combination of personality (not really enjoying the homebuying process and wanting to get it over with asap), the fact that in our lower price ranges we couldn't really be picky, and we could never afford to take our time. One house would sell and we would be under pressure to find another without having to go into a rental, etc.

 

One I regretted. I didn't want the particular part of town but impulsively put an offer in because we felt under pressure to get something. Lived there ten years and never was happy with location. Our current home was an out of town move and we, again, were under pressure and a bit impulsive and didn't really check out the area. Turns out we love it. Neighborhood and location is perfect in a way we didn't even anticipate because we were from out of town.

 

We sold our first house to a couple on an opposite coast. The wife didn't like to fly so the husband came out to look and the wife looked at pictures online. I thought to myself that the wife was going to be very unhappy. It was an old house with alot of issues and our realtor had made it look REALLY good in the pictures.

[StephanieZ]

More than once!

 

I bought my first house after a weekend visit (to a town that was new to me). I was 22.  :crying: It was the perfect house.

 

Dh and I bought my (our) second house after a weekend visit to a town that was new to both of us. It was a great house.

 

We got a rental for 14 months, sight unseen, but seen by friends. Great rental. 

 

We bought the next house the normal way. 

 

When we moved to WV to buy a vet hospital (along with a residence) . . . This was pretty much a life-time commitment to the region/town due to the huge financial commitment. I never saw any of it until I rolled into town with a van full of kids and musical instruments for our big move! It's worked out great. We lived in the residence on the commercial property for 3 years . . . until . . .

 

We bought our current house. Pretty much the normal way. Love it. It's a keeper, especially after we did a massive remodel/addition project in recent years. 

 

We bought a rental/investment house for college girl (and roomies) sight-unseen in 2016, based on video tour and a visit by our college girl along with one of her friend's folks (who are reasonably experienced with houses/real estate). It's a great little house, and we're happy with the purchase. 

 

We do use a professional inspector (found independently, NOT via the realtor) to do a comprehensive inspection, and we pay the inspector to go back and re-inspect after repairs/etc. 

 

It's worked out well for us. We've done many of our RE closings long-distance. We owned the rental/commercial house for months before we saw it!

[marbel]

We bought our house during a 3-day visit.  I walked through it with a realtor, put it on the short list to revisit, and went back with my husband (and the realtor) the next day.  We bought it that night.  When we moved in, we noticed so many things that we'd just missed.  We focused on a few things - for example, large fenced yard, since we'd promised our kid a dog - and blew it on others. The kitchen is a wreck.  I seriously had not noticed how awful the cabinets, countertops, etc, were. I hope never to buy in a hurry again. The good thing is, the house is in a great location.  The bad thing is, when we want to move, we will have to gut the kitchen and start over.  

Edited September 2, 2017 by marbel

[Annie G]

We bought this house on a weekend visit- and it was in the middle of a pretty snowy winter so we had no idea what the yard, parking area, etc. looked like.  

 

We're going to buy the next house on a weekend visit but we're already looking online to get an idea of what's available and how far it is to important stuff, like grocery store.  It's so much easier now with abundant info available online. 

 

When we walk into a house we either like it or we don't.  Dh and I have very similar taste so it helps. Just yesterday we went through a house our best friends bought the day before. We oohed and aahed over it but when we got home dh and I both agreed it was NOT a house we would have considered.  Sometimes you just know.

[DawnM]

We bought this house on a weekend visit- and it was in the middle of a pretty snowy winter so we had no idea what the yard, parking area, etc. looked like.  

 

We're going to buy the next house on a weekend visit but we're already looking online to get an idea of what's available and how far it is to important stuff, like grocery store.  It's so much easier now with abundant info available online. 

 

When we walk into a house we either like it or we don't.  Dh and I have very similar taste so it helps. Just yesterday we went through a house our best friends bought the day before. We oohed and aahed over it but when we got home dh and I both agreed it was NOT a house we would have considered.  Sometimes you just know.

 

 

I think we have just never had a house that we just "knew."  I know I am not the greatest decision maker.  I don't make bad decisions.....I just agonize over making them in the first place.  We got the house with land this time.  The house itself wasn't my favorite.  I like it and it has served us well, but I was never in love with it.  

[Pink and Green Mom]

When my husband got a job transfer from Northern VA to Clearwater, FL, we had basically one weekend to look for a house (ours sold in 4 days).  I would never, ever again move to an area I was unfamiliar with in that manner.  I would rent to get a better feel for the surroundings.  I like my house fine, it is several neighbors that are the problem.

[TravelingChris]

We have bought two houses with short visits to the city.  Before I took a trip, I did research on neighborhoods so I had a good idea where to look.  In my first go round, I was alone and chose the house by myself though I did send photos to my husband.  We have similar tastes in houses and he liked it too and I bought it.  With the second house we bought this way, we flew for a longer weekend and looked at twelve houses.  The house we bought was the last house we visited the first go round.  Then we revisited two houses and chose this one.  We had already chosen neighborhoods and the particular one we are in is a good one.  We were happy in both houses we chose quickly.  The first house we bought while we were living in the area.  The house was okay but the neighborhood had issues. I hadn't yet come up with my ideas about how to choose a good neighborhood for us.

[Night Elf]

We weren't long distance, but we've bought 3 houses without knowing anything about the neighborhood. Two of our houses were brand new. We just drove into the neighborhood, liked how it looked and how the houses looked, went inside, picked out a home and signed paperwork. Our current house was similar. We had a realtor showing us houses. When we got to this one, we just knew this was the one we wanted so our realtor put the offer in right away and it was accepted within a couple of hours.

 

ETA: we moved into different counties than where we were each time so we really didn't know much about them. We did not research for crime or schools or anything like that. Never even occurred to us.

Edited September 2, 2017 by Night Elf

[Barb_]

Agonizing over a house can put a lot of pressure on the house to be perfect. Choosing quickly can set you up psychologically to let the little thing slide. We chose the lot and had our first house built. I was always annoyed at the things I didn't think to have them fix. It's my least favorite house in my memory.

 

Our last house, I chose all by myself while my husband had our kids at the pool. I walked in and felt like "home" and put down a (refundable) $500 check to hold it. The rest of the family drove out the same day and agreed it was perfect and we bought it.

 

My husband spent six months working in San Francisco and while the stakes were lower I picked our apartment from the internet. I adored that place. So it's possible.

 

We're completely renovating our house after the fire gutted it and I'm putting so much work into it that maybe I should be worried I'm setting myself up for the perfection thing again.

Edited September 2, 2017 by Barb_

[Janeway]

When we bought our first house, and this one, we put in offers right after seeing them. But, we did do inspections on both houses. But we did not mull either house over for even an hour. In both cases, both houses ended up with several offers. In the case of the first house, we had put in several offers on houses before we got the one we got. The market was really hopping. With the second one, we bid over asking price on the one we got. I knew exactly what I wanted and once I found it, I went in with gusto. We got it.

[J-rap]

I could do a rental sight-unseen, if I knew it was temporary -- and we have.  (I'd try and research the neighborhood online though.)

 

For buying a house, I'd need to at least see it once, and would want a good feel for the general neighborhood/location.

 

We bought our current (and only) home after seeing it just once.  But, it was a small town so it wasn't too hard to get a feel for the neighborhoods, and we had already been through so many other houses that day.  Both my husband and I had the feeling of us "This is it" when we walked into it.  Plus, the price couldn't be beat.

 

We didn't check out our specific neighbors though, and really lucked out with them.  It didn't occur to us as new homebuyers how important that aspect could be.

[importswim]

When DH got out of the military he had training at his new job and it was close to where we wanted to move to (across the country from where we were stationed). A house opened up that was at least $30,000 below all of the other houses in the area and had been on the market for 8 months. Looking at the pictures it was clear why, but it was ALL cosmetic fixes (granted, really bad ones that would cost a little fix). DH had a weekend free so he drove over to see it and he and his realtor talked with the owner (a young guy who was really motivated to sell because it was too far away from his job).

 

We had it inspected and it was solid. We put an offer in and got the house. That was 4 years ago. We fixed the cosmetic issues and now have a fabulous (though a little small) house in the exact area of the neighborhood that I would have picked had we rented for a year and then looked to buy. I haven't seen anything anywhere near the price that we paid for it since then. We now have $40,000 worth of equity in the house, so we feel that we got a fantastic deal. It is the ideal situation and one that I was very skeptical about, but DH won me over and I'm glad he did!

 

ETA: Technically, it was sight unseen for me. I first saw the house after we had bought it, driving into town!

Edited September 2, 2017 by importswim

[prairiewindmomma]

We bought this house on a weekend visit. Based on google maps, we knew this was the part of town we needed to be in. We looked at market data to select a price point and style that we could resell quickly if need be. We came in with a list of houses, knocked several off with the driveby, and had appointments to see 5 of them. The situation was far from ideal, but overall it went smoothly.

[LarlaB]

Yes, we've done both. I never stopped to think about how odd this might make us LOL

Sight unseen:

We were moving 2 states, 9 hours away- SIL looked at the house and made a video and we bought it, sight unseen. Did not see the inside until final walk walk through/paper signing day. Was totally happy with it.

Over a weekend:

Moving 1500 miles -we flew out for weekend and looked for 2 days with realtor. Didn't see anything that fit...ON THE WAY TO THE AIRPORT we stopped to look at the neighborhood we loved one more time, and the house we almost loved but that didn't fit us size/space wise, and saw (the house right behind the house we almost loved) the owner of this house had put up and hand made for sale sign overnight...we knocked on the door, went in and I just KNEW this was our home.  I still LOVE our home and plan to never move until the kids leave for college. :) 

 

ETA:  Typing on phone and all thumbs

Edited September 2, 2017 by LarlaB

[Guest]

i guess I am asking how far away you lived previously. Were you several states away and bought sight unseen? Or were you at least familiar with the area.

No, no...it was only a county away. It was not going to be drastically different. :)

[RootAnn]

Bought two houses - both after one look. DH was with me for both. Both were in areas we had to fly (or drive) a significant distance to see & we weren't familiar with them at all. Both were decisions made on the same day we looked at lots of houses. We've pretty much always gotten it down to two houses, done pros/cons on both, then decided (with the second house as an acceptable backup for both of us).

 

Loved both houses for different reasons. DH wanted House A instead of House B. I wanted House B instead of House A. I could just SEE my stuff in House B - both were empty when we looked at them. House A would have been less work upfront, I think. I'm so glad we bought House B, though.  :001_tt1:

 

It was important that our list of houses to look at (in a short time) was already narrowed down to what we specifically wanted (2+ bathrooms, attached garage, 3+ bedrooms). Real estate agent wanted to show us a house that only had one bathroom. I told him we didn't have time to waste on houses that didn't fit our profile. He realized I wasn't going to be a push-over & culled out a couple he'd stuck in. I think the biggest problem would have been if nothing we saw felt right. Would we have settled or would we have waited, renting in the meantime? (I was expecting dd#2 a month after we moved to House B.) I don't know the answer to that.

[Tap]

Not sight unseen, but with just a quick walk through.

 

My current home was on the market.  I drove by, went in and walked through.  Dh came back with me when he got off work and walked through together. We made an offer to the developer. We owned it less than a week later.  I don't think we even spent 10 minutes total in the house before buying it.

Edited September 2, 2017 by Tap

[HollyDay]

I have.  A few years ago, Dh had 4 days house hunting leave in another state.  I was unable to go with him and stayed with our young children/toddler.  This was before facetime and all that.  He took pictures and emailed them to me.  But, I couldn't really see much.  He signed the contracts, they were fedexed to me and the process was started.  I saw the house for the first time the day we signed all the papers at the title office (after driving 14 hours with a toddler and a child).  We had a Uhaul full of stuff sitting in the driveway.....no turning back.  It was a great house!

 

Next move, Dh had 2 weeks notice his job was going several states over.  He left, settled into a hotel, and started searching for a house whenever he could.  Neither of us had lived in the new area before.  We had no family there and only knew 1 person.  We decided not to buy right away.  Our house where we were living had not sold (really depressed housing market at the time).  He rented a house, then dc and I moved.  The rental house was 1,000 sq ft smaller than our home.  We bought a home couple years ago after our old home sold and we knew the new area better. 

[Seasider]

Not sight unseen.

 

But in a weekend - yes. We saw our current house once, and made an offer. We didn't know the area, but based it on the look and feel and public records of the area.

 

My parents did this as well, growing up. Military family, and often my mom went house shopping alone, with just kids.

 

ETA: we were in a hot market. Our house had four offers that day, it's first day on the market. So waiting wasn't really an option.

This is typically how we've had to do it, as my dh works for a sudden-relocation type of employer. I will say that the internet is a huge tool for shopping for a house this way.

 

Yes, there have been a couple of times I would have selected a different house, in hindsight. But I probably had to live at those locations a year before coming to that conclusion; I had to get my support systems (new doctors, groceries, schooling coops and activities, etc) in place before I knew how they would relate to my house location, and system-building takes time. The ideal situation would have been to rent for 6 months prior to purchasing a house, but then there are the challenges of storing household goods and possibly a real estate closing without company assistance.

[Lawyer&Mom]

I had a weekend to pick this house. But I had already studied maps of the area, and local schools, and public transportation... So yes, the Internet makes it doable! We also had a very knowledgeable real estate agent who knew what would work for us and confirmed that the house we picked was the best on offer.

[Guest]

We bought one house 15 minutes after we walked in the door, 18 hours after we got into town, first house we looked at.

 

We decided to buy another while we were still driving into the driveway. We signed papers half an hour later. We had to wait that long for the listing papers to be completed. Ithat house never really hit the market.

 

We've labored over others though. It's just that when you live in a place that is a hot market, you have to move fast.

[happypamama]

Sight unseen, no. One of the two of us, if both couldn't, needs to see it. But in a weekend, sure. We bought our first two houses after looking at just a couple of houses over a few quick trips to the area because neither were local moves. This house, we made a few trips to the area (about a 3 hour drive) and looked at about sixteen houses total. This house was the last, and I only found it after I changed our search parameters a bit. But the second I saw it online, I knew it was ours. It wasn't that I immediately fell in love with it, but something just told me it was ours. Still, we looked at it, and I think we actually came a second time to look at it, just to be sure, but then we did put in the offer that day.

[Seasider]

As far as buying sight unseen, I would be very much against that. I need to both smell it and feel its vibe. Yeah, that sounds kind of woo, but places can evoke feelings and if I'm going to be sleeping there for an extended period of time, I want to feel it first. (Someone please tell me I'm not the only one who does this?😂)

Edited September 2, 2017 by Seasider

[Arcadia]

We bought our first condo from the developer while it was being built. So within hours of touring the show flat and looking at floor plans. Our current condo was also bought from the developer right after touring the unit.

 

No regrets since all we care was that it was a relatively safe area with good public transport and walkable to supermarkets and library. Our condo neighbors have all been neutral to nice, no nasty ones.

[gaillardia]

As far as buying sight unseen, I would be very much against that. I need to both smell it and feel its vibe. Yeah, that sounds kind of woo, but places can evoke feelings and if I'm going to be sleeping there for an extended period of time, I want to feel it first. (Someone please tell me I'm not the only one who does this?😂)

Sight unseen, meaning feels unfelt? Yeah. NO.

I mean, at least my dh went to the one place and I did not. It was a new neighborhood and the lots were large so I didn't think I'd feel bad about that. The back yard backed up to a cow pasture and a seasonal stream and fence were the borders.

 

I've looked at google satellite images and thought I knew how a place would feel or really look. It is totally different being there. I never thought I would like even passing through the northwest corner of NM, but it was enjoyable.

 

No, you're not the only one who does that or thinks like that.

[Zinnia]

We were renting, but when we had been married about a year, dh went up to our new town, saw 3 places, signed a lease on one, and bam, there we were.  We didn't have the commitment of purchase, but it probably wouldn't have changed things.  I preferred that to the endless slog of looking at houses and weighing their ups and downs, goods and bads, that we did with our last house (also renting).  I like our house, we've lived here 7 years, and it's been perfect for us.  Still would rather not have spent 5 months looking for it.  I wish that dh would make all my decisions for me quickly like that.  *ducks head because that's a crazy, unpopular way to think*

Edited September 3, 2017 by Zinnia

[mom31257]

We bought our current house after seeing it on the internet and looking at it just one weekend. We were moving from TN to GA and only had the one weekend to actually shop for a house. We accepted a job the first weekend in May, went back home and sold our house to someone we knew, and came back 2 weeks later, shopped around, and put an offer on our current house. We moved in on June 21st of that year. It was the fastest sell/purchase/move we've ever done. We've been here for 13 years.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 3, 2017 by mom31257

[EKS]

My aunt and her partner did.  I thought they were nuts, but they've been there almost a year now and they love it.

[Mabelen]

We had the spring break week to visit houses. We had already sold our house on the East Coast but the girls and I were staying in it renting until the end of the school year. My husband had already started his new job in California at the beginning of the year and was commuting from her brother's 80 miles away.

 

We did a lot of research online prior to spring break, but we basically visited the house and the neighborhood twice before putting an offer. I flew back to Maryland with the girls and my husband took it from there. I didn't see the house again until move in time in July. I still am happy with the house and the neighborhood, 9 years in. Yes, there were many things you could only find out after living in the area for a while, but nothing turned out to be a deal breaker.

Edited September 3, 2017 by Mabelen

[Julie Smith]

I have, every time. 

 

Actually saw house, and bought it in the same day. Half the time without Dh seeing it first.