In these times, looking for a house can be a challenge. Still, there are ways to look for houses online that you can do to find potential houses and start to create your short list of houses to check out.
I love to look for houses online, it’s my first stop on my buying a house checklist. If you are new to looking at houses online, here is a video walkthrough of how I approach looking at houses. What I look for and how to read between the lines on an online listing. Using Zillow is a great way to get a lot of information on a house without leaving the comfort of your home.
This video will walk you through how to look through a house listing and help you understand what to look for and how to eliminate houses from your screening list.
A question that come up with looking for a house online is when is it a good idea to start looking for a house? Your house buying timeline will vary depending on how much downpayment you need and how much house you can afford. But for this process of looking for a house online, it is something that you can do right away, and it can help sharpen your eyes to what you want in a house and things you want to avoid in a house.
A few things to consider when looking for a house online
The quality of the photos can vary. Like in the video above, it was hard to tell if the shingles were needing replacement or if it was just the internet and quality of the photo. This can hamper your looking online for houses, but it shouldn’t deter you from starting.
Look for a reason to eliminate the house
When you are investing in real estate you generally are looking for a reason to say no. This is a good mindset to have when you are looking for at houses for yourself as well. A house hunting checklist is a great for smart shopping to keep you neutral on the houses you look at.
Think of it like this, there are thousands of homes in your area that you can potentially buy over your life, when you finally say yes to one house, you are effectively saying no to all of the other ones that are out there. When you think of it from a different perspective it takes the emotional and mental pressure out to buy something right away.
For example, in the video we mention that a Homeowner Association is something we didn’t want to be in, while we can filter that out it’s a good example of being able to pick and choose more when the opportunity presents itself.
Always remember the seller always looking for the cheapest way to sell a house. So put on your detective hat and see if what you are looking at makes sense.
Another way to filter houses online
Another thing to look out for are the costs of a new homeowner. Besides your mortgage payment there are a host of other expenses you will need to pay on a month, quarterly and annual basis. When you look at houses online, if they provide you with any of these costs you can enter them into your spreadsheet and figure out if it’s within your budget.