Remote Control: Homebuyers Stay Competitive By Purchasing Sight Unseen

Homebuyers are increasingly taking advantage of improved remote-viewing technology like FaceTime to stay competitive in markets with low supply and a lightning-fast sales' pace. 

The data backs up anecdotal accounts of home shoppers buying homes sight unseen. Survey data from Redfin finds that 20 percent of buyers say they submitted an offer for a home without visiting beforehand, and in a survey of real estate agents by Realtor.com, more than half say they worked with at least one buyer in the last six months who bought their primary home sight unseen. Glenn Kelman, chief executive of Redfin tells The New York Times, “There’s an e-commerce mentality sinking into the American consciousness,” that he attributes to online retailer Zappos' pioneering popularization of buying goods online. Redfin recently bought software to speed up the offer-writing and submitting processes to keep buyers competitive, "People want to be able to trade a house like they trade a stock.”

Of course, not everyone is convinced that this is how buyers should think about home purchases. Robert Dankner, a Manhattan real estate agent, said he would handle sight-unseen purchases only for longtime clients whom he knew very well. “If I don’t really understand them, I would rather not make money and disappoint them and insist they look for themselves,” he said. “If it’s a house to enjoy for themselves, it’s not a numbers thing — it’s personal and touchy-feely.”

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