Hone in on Your Preferred Area for Your Online Home Search
You probably have a preferred area you want to move to, whether it is a whole city or a particular neighborhood. Zillow now has a border-drawing feature that allows you to draw a border around the areas where you want to search for homes. This way, you don’t have to be confined to names and zip codes.
Filter Home Types
If you know you want to buy a standalone house and not a condo, filter those out of your search. The home types to choose from include houses, manufactured homes, condos, multi-family units, apartments, lots/land, and townhomes. If you know that you would never buy a certain type of home, don’t waste time looking at them.
Narrow Down the Price Based on Your Budget
While it can be fun to browse expensive properties online, it is discouraging when you are in the market to buy a home. If you are serious about your home search, filter out houses that you simply cannot afford. When deciding your budget, keep in mind that your monthly mortgage payment shouldn’t cost more than ⅓ of your take-home pay.
Filter Out Homes That Won’t Fit Your Family
If you know that you need at least 3 bedrooms so that your teenage kids can each have their own room, don’t bother looking for homes with fewer bedrooms. If a house with a single bathroom would never work for your family, set your home search to show houses with 2 or more bathrooms. Alternatively, if the point of moving is to downsize, cap your search at a certain number of rooms or square footage.
3D Home Tours Help Your Online Home Search
If you are moving to a different state or hundreds of miles away, 3D home tours are a great tool. Set up an alert that will tell you when a new home within your search parameters is listed with the 3D home tour feature. In some hot real estate markets, you may have to place an offer before you have seen the house in-person to successfully buy a home. A 3D home tour is a great tool for viewing homes remotely.
Brick N’ Beam Home Inspections provides inspection services to St. Louis County, Jefferson County, and surrounding areas. Contact us to schedule an appointment.