How to buy a home in another state before moving!

Are you thinking about buying a house long distance? Here are five tips for you that are going to make your life a whole lot easier.

1. When you do your research, you’ll quickly discover that there are a lot of different types of neighborhoods and areas in most urban and suburban territories. Which one is right for you is going to depend on a lot of different factors.

Figuring out what’s important to you is really going to play a factor. Are you looking to get into a great school district, looking to find a great walking area, want to be near the beach or be in the downtown area. Try to start narrowing it down based on lifestyle choices and that’s going to help bring in the focus so that when you’re ready to actually come pay a visit you won’t be driving all over the place. You’ll have it already narrowed down to the communities that are going to best represent what you’re actually looking for.

1. Find a local realtor that you can work with! I work with out of area buyers who identify properties that they would like to consider and I go videotape walkthroughs of those properties to help narrow it down for them because they might decide once they’ve actually seen the video footage the property is what they are looking for. On the other hand if they really love it we will make an appointment to see the property when the buyer gets to town.

2. Narrow down your scope to the cities where you actually found some houses that you think might work for you. Get specific about how many properties you can realistically see while you’re out here. If you’re only in town for a couple of days seeing tons of homes is not going to be super realistic. You’re going to run yourself ragged and eventually the homes are just all going to run together which means you’re not going to remember the first one from the last.

3. Know your market! If you are working with a professional realtor they will be able to help you identify things like is it a buyer’s market or a seller’s market at this particular moment. Now as of this taping in 2021 I can definitely tell you it is a seller’s market. However, the market is always changing so you want to be sure to work with someone who actually has their ear to the ground. Your realtor will help know where you stand in the negotiations, help you put an offer that is more likely to be accepted and that’s going to be a win-win. You don’t want to keep flying back and forth especially if you’ve found your dream home! Now let’s pretend that you’ve come to town, you’ve done your tours, you’ve found your perfect house, your realtor has put in your offer and it got accepted (Yay, awesome news). Now you have to fly back home….

4. You will want to do your inspections even if you are not in town to do them. Your realtor should be able to do that for you! They will be your boots on the ground to make sure that all of the inspections that you need to have taken care of are done for you.

-Bonus Tip-

Last but not least, closing! Are you planning to close where you are currently or where you are purchasing? I highly recommend that you do the closing where you’re purchasing the property.

Here’s why – let’s say you’ve arranged to have the documents sent to a title company or escrow company so you are able to go in and sign. Once you’re done signing you package it all up and send it off to the receiving end. They find a missing signature well now that’s going to delay the close which can run into other problems especially if you’ve got loans. I highly recommend you just hop on that plane, sign on the dotted line and then you are good to go with no worries.

If you are looking to buy a home in another state before moving and would like some information feel free to reach out!

Since 2004, I have been a Realtor® in Southern California.

Thank you for watching and sharing my videos and blogs! I love to help educate people.

I am blessed to live just 2 miles from the shore here in Long Beach. Favorite thing? Anything involving the arts; music, visual, filmmaking, you name it! If you want to talk to me about SoCal real estate feel free to email, text or call me. I hope we get to meet one day soon 🥰

I might be your Realtor IF, you like:
Hybrid driving, intuitive tree hugger who knows how to negotiate and close a deal that serves all!
Other noteworthy assets: 
Obsessive attention to detail
Can sing and will sing anytime, anywhere.
Willing servant to a rescue dog named GG
Marvel Comic fanatic (Yes, I said FANATIC)
Ability to laugh at life when crap goes sideways, cuz every once in a while, it just does (can you say pandemic?)
Ardent student of life
Breathing in Love. Breathing out Love.
If that sounds like your jam, let's connect!!!

Kelly Corsino
Life@CoastalLivingByKelly.com
(714) 227-0712
DRE01704102
ΓEA⅃ Broker