Disclosure: This is a sponsored post.
For many, travel and looking for a new house is the new way of buying a home. We travel a lot, but as much as we love it, I’m not sure I would make an offer on a property while overseas. A friend told me she made the offer on the home she now owns without even seeing it because she was traveling. When I first heard her, I thought that I had mistaken what she was saying, but nope – she bought her home (or at least made the first steps to buying her home) without ever seeing it. Nowadays, this is becoming more of a common thing of buying a home while traveling because of the market and because people are just traveling more. Businesses are becoming more and more okay with remote workers, which leads to longer and more frequent travels and it can be hard to be in town the very minute you decide to start your home buying process.
Tips for Buying a Home While Traveling
If this sounds like you, then you are going to want to keep reading this because I am going to give you all of the tips on buying a home while traveling! Let’s jump in:
Be Willing To Cancel Plans
First thing first: be willing to cancel your plans. You never know what might happen, or what you might need to be available (in person) for, so be willing to cancel your plans if you are really invested in the home buying process. This means that if you have never taken advantage of travel insurance before now, it is time. How it works is basically the same as any other insurance policy that you might have. You buy the travel insurance before anything happens to disrupt your trip (once you have to cancel, you are out of luck, so get it early!). Then, if you do have to cancel, you will be all set. You will just need to provide documentation of your issue and hopefully, you will be reimbursed for you already paid for travels. Before you purchase a travel insurance plan, make sure you read up on what it covers and what it does not cover. You do not want to be stuck paying for an insurance plan that doesn’t work for your home buying situation.
Trust Your Real Estate Agent
When you travel during the home buying process, you need to make sure that you have a great team lined up that can do most of the work for you, without you having to worry about anything. Erin King Jax Historic Realty. Erin King is a Best of Zillow® REALTOR® who specializes in Jacksonville’s historic neighborhoods. He previously worked in financial services and holds an MBA with an economics focus. He brings along a deep understanding of buying and selling homes, so you can know that your home transaction is in fantastic hands.“Erin, who was featured as a 2017 “Rising Star” by Jacksonville Real Producers Magazine, lives in a 1924 Avondale home that he restored with his partner, David. When he isn’t enjoying recreational sports, Erin can be seen strolling the streets of Avondale with his dog, Saedi, often chatting with past clients and neighbors seeking advice about their historic home renovations.” If his many accolades and accomplishments are not enough, he also has many amazing reviews from past clients. You want someone who you can trust with your real estate transaction and if you are buying a home in Jacksonville, that person should definitely be Erin King.
Utilize Technology
Let me just say that I love the time we live in. Technology is truly amazing and helps everything move along faster and more efficiently. The technology that you can use now is just so helpful for when you cannot be there. For example, the friend that I told you about earlier “saw” the home she made an offer on through FaceTime. Her real estate agent actually went to the home the day it was listed while my friend was out of town and FaceTimed her so that she could “see” the home before officially making an offer on it. Once she fell in love with the home, they did everything virtually. Her real estate agent took care of all of the back and forth negotiations with the other family and other agent and once everything was agreed upon, they signed and sent over all information online. Isn’t that just amazing?
Try To Enjoy Yourself
One thing that I always say to people trying to buy a home while away on travels is to still try and enjoy yourself. The home buying process can be stressful, but if you trust your real estate agent (more on this above), you should be able to enjoy your time during your travels. After all, being stressed when buying a home for thirty days (or maybe more depending on your closing date) would not be fun at all – and it would be bad for your health, as well.
Be Available
Last but not least, just be available. I know you are probably thinking that this is a very obvious point, but you would not believe how many people go MIA during the pending period of the home process and trust me – there will be many things that you will need to do. From random documentation needs to the inspection, and random questions that pop up along the way, just be prepared to be available when your real estate agent or mortgage broker calls you to save the extra stress.
Tell us, have you made an offer on a home while traveling?
Buying a home while traveling can be SO stressful! This is a great tip sheet to get started.
It is! Glad these tips could help.
I can’t imagine myself in this situation tbh! I would definitely cancel the travel plans and focus on finalizing the purchase. Great tips.
Yes, it would be a stressful one to me too but with all the new technology advancements, it would make it easier.
We bought our current home in Auckland, New Zealand while we were visiting. And that was our plan before we left the states. For us it worked out pretty well, although there are a few decisions I would have made differently had I lived here for a while first. Great tips here.
Oh wow! Congratulations! Us too, we visited Disney World and ended up with a home here.
Sounds a bit stressful to buy a home while traveling but these were definitely great tips! Interesting read!
But with technology, it gets smoother, don’t you think?
These are definitely a great tips. I agree that when a buying a house we should trust our realtor agent for everything, that we should be available in case of a meeting and most especially that we should enjoy the whole process of it.
Absolutely! Enjoy the process you are so right.
I honestly can’t see myself purchasing a home while traveling. But who knows! You have certainly provided some very helpful info.
That’s how I saw it too, until it happened. Glad these tips were helpful to you Lasonia.
Great write up and I agree the most important thing is to enjoy the process and don’t stress up.
Exactly! This is part of our journey in life.
These are really great tips! I will surely keep this in mind. Thanks for sharing.
You are welcome!
Each point described here is so important to keep in mind! I was thinking of purchasing a home during our next trip and see, here I got so much info on it ☺ Thank you!
Awesome! Glad we could help.
I personally know a lot of people who have fell in love with a location and then bought a property while they were travelling. These tips you have shared is so helpful indeed.
Me too! I was one of them!
Great tips. We are planning to move further south soon so it is sort of a similar situation. This is helpful
Glad this information was helpful to you Scott!
I love this topic, always gives me a little bit of sense what I need to do and be prepared for before buying a home. Thanks!
Yes, when traveling and looking at home in your state, is not easy.
These are super helpful tips. I agree it all starts with the realtor and getting a good one.
Yes, let them do the work for you!
Wow, buying a home whilst travelling, sounds super stressful but great tips
Glad you thought the tips are great!
Loved reading your tips to buy a home while traveling. I so wish to buy one in Europe.
That would be awesome!!
Great tips!!!! I can only imagine how stressful it would be to purchase a home traveling!
Glad you enjoy them, Courtney!