People buying without viewing

amandacat

I keep hearing more stories from people who are buying houses without viewing them. My EA tells me that several cottages in my area have sold to people from cities in other parts of the country  looking for a second home in a rural location but haven’t viewed them. I’m also aware of two people in my area that I chat to on social media who have sold their houses to people who live in their area who have never viewed because they’re worried about covid- just did the virtual/video tour, made an offer and are now proceeding with sale. This would make me really nervous as a seller. 
Is this a thing now? 

Grumpy_chap

The latter scenario (people who live in their area who have never viewed) seems more logical.

Several years ago, my brother wanted a house on a particular estate and, at that time, those houses were selling like hot cakes.  I remember my brother moaning that the houses would come on the market mid-week and sold before he got home from work.  In the end, he made an asking price offer on a house without viewing because the EA called him at work to say it had come on the market and, if he didn't want it, the EA had a queue of other interest.

How time changes.

MaryNB

Wow. I once rented a room based on a Skype viewing (was living far away and needed a place to move to for work). The one thing you don't get is the smell! Learned my lesson. Could never ever imagine committing to a purchasing a property without seeing it.

babyblade41

I never viewed my last 2 properties, I did send my OH to view but that's it 

moneysavinghero

I guess if you are a city banker living in a multi-million pound London house, a cottage in the country is going to be short change.

Davesnave

I assume most non-viewing purchasers would at least have a survey?

We could have bought our first house without viewing it, but that's because we'd decided on the exact location, which was more important than what we'd find inside. It was sound, unmodernised and nothing wonderful.

It would probably have been the same for our second house, which we had for its plot and orientation, not the decor. We'd rather have had other houses we saw, but they just couldn't touch the space and location.

We definitely couldn't have risked buying our current property without seeing it, as we're no longer in terraced/semi dee territory. There were so many up and down sides we walked away from it initially and it took 3 viewings to become moderately interested. I only saw it as a stop-gap. Like the best music, it took a little while to get to grips with, but the benefits were worth the effort.

amandacat

One of my friends received an asking price offer from someone local who based it on the video tour on rightmove. He said the EA asked if he wanted to view in person and he said no, he is happy with the video viewing and has walked around the area. My friend is really nervous but said the buyer has appointed a solicitor and done his mortgage application. I just can’t comprehend it, a video tour is great but it won’t tell you if the house smells of dogs or fags or any damage in the property. 

Greatgimp

The smell of dogs, fags or cooking will fade, but the location never will.

pinkteapot

I could see it being a bit different for second homes to be honest, especially if people already know the area from holidays etc. Also bear in mind these buyers may not just be buying them as holiday homes for themselves, but to run as holiday lettings/AirBnB. They'll just rely on a survey to tell them if there's anything really wrong with the place. 

I'm with everyone else though - I'd never buy a house (even a holiday let if I could afford one) without viewing in person. Each to their own though! 

Grumpy_chap

I think most people who put an offer in for a property (like my brother after the desirable road in boom times) do then view subsequently and have surveys, searches, etc all afterwards.  In many ways, that initial offer during weekdays so the property is not "sold" elsewhere before it can be viewed at the weekend is arbitary as the offer can be withdrawn without penalty.

Sometimes, location and size of the plot is the main factor and if the purchaser intends to do a compete refurb, the state of the internal condition is largely irrelevant.

RelievedSheff

We could in theory have bought our current property without seeing it. It is after all a pretty generic out of the box new build. We knew we liked the layout and that would work for us and we had two to choose from. On paper the other property would probably have been the one we would have chosen, it had the upgraded kitchen, wider driveway and in theory better garden orientation. 

However when we viewed both properties in person we chose the other plot as we really didn't like the kitchen and the garden was more overlooked. You couldn't grasp that from the plans online.