Get questions at the ready when touring a home by video-chat

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Published Date 4/21/2020

Can you judge a house by its video? You can't exactly run your hand along a banister or feel the coolness of the stone countertops in the kitchen. Nor can you get a feel for room sizes. It's just not the same as being there.

Video chats, however, are all the rage in real estate right now, primarily because being there is not a great idea during these pandemic-driven days. Redfin's Jordan Cameron offers a few tips while social distancing from the house that interests you. His first tip? Ask LOTS of questions, before, during and even after the video tour.

First, find out if a floor plan or blueprints exist. Then and only then can you gaze at the size of each room in numeric or square footage form. It makes little sense to consider buying a house that has a 20 by 15-foot family room and good sized bedrooms if the kitchen is the size of a postage stamp. Your agent should offer honest feedback about which rooms or areas are undersized, or if the floorplan flow is something that interests you. How far must you walk with your groceries to the kitchen when you get them out or your car? Are the bedrooms all on one floor? Is one of them separate from the others and does it have its own bath?

If you can't do the video chat tour in real-time, ask your agent ahead of time if he or she can record a video and send it as a back up as well as for comparisons to others you might see. "Be clear about which features of the home you'd like to focus on, which areas to spend extra time on and where to show multiple angles," says Cameron.

Next, have your agent look closely to see if any features or surfaces look worn or damaged. If they see some, have them take close-up smartphone photos. Cameron warns, "It's not always easy to tell from a video, so take some time to make sure looks match reality."

Speaking of reality, what are the noise levels both inside and outside of the home? What times of day might you hear freeway noise? Is there a school nearby that has a lit-up athletic field that holds sports events at night? Also, have your agent go room by room to see if any curtains or blinds are obscuring unpleasant views, such as the back of a Wal-Mart or an auto repair shop.

Make sure to find out the age of the appliances. "The life expectancy of kitchen appliances varies and can be easily overlooked during a video home tour," says Cameron. "Replacing old appliances can be very expensive, so be sure that the home you're touring has appliances that will function well into the foreseeable future." Even if a home warranty covers the appliances, there are still fees involved in a repair visit.

Is the house facing east or west, so that the front door and possibly your living room furniture might fade or crunch under a blaring sun in the mornings or the long afternoons? Does the sun hit your master bedroom each morning when all you want to do is sleep in? And if its orientation is north-south, does sufficient daylight flood the parts of the home that matter to you?

How close are the neighbors? Hard to tell in a video. "Knowing how close the home is to the ones next door can help you get a better idea of potential noise levels or whether a window looks directly into the homes next door," says Cameron. If it's a condo, make sure to get a video or a tour of the common areas for which you will be laying out a homeowner's fee each month. Of course, you'll want your Realtor to be vigilant, listening to creaking sounds on floors and stairways, or slopes or bulges on the floors. Additional heads up are for odors, landscape quality and maintenance, and curb appeal, including the front door and garage doors (if they face front).

After the tour or video is done, ask your agent if anything looks noticeably different in person vs. in the listing photos. "Sellers might accentuate a feature in photos, while it doesn't look the same in-person," says Cameron. This includes a drive-through of the neighborhood, since you won't be driving through it yourself if you're not local. Have your agent take the approach from the main street, taking video of each neighborhood or commercial area they pass.

Cameron adds that while it sounded futuristic only weeks ago, more buyers are making offers after taking video-chat tours than ever before. So, if you're planning on taking advantage of the market during this historic Spring, make sure you make a list of questions to ask before considering making an offer.

Source: TBWS

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