<p>We just put a house under contract in Lynchburg sight unseen except photos. We fly out this weekend to see it and confirm the contract. Seattle to Lynchburg and back on the weekend. I feel tired already.</p>
<p>Sight unseen!!! Wow…you level of faith is amazing! 
Good luck…hope it’s everything that you expect!</p>
<p>I agree with berurah (jaw on floor). Please, please, please give us a detailed report when you get back!</p>
<p>barrons - good luck. Hope you like it as much in person too.</p>
<p>One thought: have you google-earthed it? That will show you all the surrounding area.</p>
<p>Congratulations Barrons!</p>
<p>It’s just a couple of blocks from our others so we know the street well. The main thing is the condition of the major systems, roof and a dry basement. The exterior is all brick and looks good and the interior is very cluttered with stuff but has all the typical details and built-ins of the era (40’s)–plaster walls, bookcases, crown mouldings, all hardwoods, nice FP, smallish kitchen etc. </p>
<p>Just need for Randolph College (aka RMWC) , Lynchburg College and Liberty U to keep growing and move that local economy along.</p>
<p>Lynchburg–the next Charlottesville!</p>
<p>I have had a couple of clients buy homes sight unseen. In one case relying on me to be sure it is what they would want :eek:. In that case (client out of country, cannot return prior to closing), I have been sure that 2 of their friends have come to see/express opinions/talk at length with client on phone/get me off the hook ;). Believe me, I held my breath when she returned and I let her in to the home, that she owned already, for the first time.</p>
<p>Riskiest purchase I’ve ever seen? Husband purchases house that he’s seen but wife hasn’t!?!!! Two of my clients have done so. To the best of my knowledge, they are still married. These are brave guys (see Man card thread) and/or powerfully strong marriages.</p>
<p>My husband purchased our current home without me. We lived in another state, and the market was tight – anything interesting was off the market by the time we could make travel plans. Granted, this was a new development, but it still was a little scary for both of us! We flew out to see the house one day before the deadline to back out passed. Fortunately, everything was fine.</p>
<p>My husband purchased our current home without me. I saw it in a grocery store real estate book he had sent me and asked him to check it out (he was living in the area already; I was 3 states away, waiting for our house to sell). I didn’t give him much to go on…my only criteria was that there must be sidewalks (we had been living WAY out in the country, and I figured sidewalks=neighbors/less isolation). He called me and said he wanted to put down a deposit, so I transferred the funds into our checking account. It worked out well, except for one detail…he told me the carpeting in the living room was blue, so I had our furniture reupholstered in blue tones. When I finally saw the house at closing, I discovered the carpeting was actually mint green. Not a big deal, but I learned to never trust his perception of color!</p>
<p>jmmom, H & I have the exact same taste in homes. We’ve bought our homes as a team. But if some “grab it before it’s gone” house came up, either one of us would trust the other. Cars, however…I go for the boring Toyota minivan and drive it for 200,000 miles. He always has something odd or funky, plus a 60 year old MG that I don’t even know (or care to know) how to start.</p>
<p>Barrons, I’m impressed with your entrepreneurship. Good luck!</p>
<p>Well, that was interesting. Short version is we are not buying the house as we found a new small shopping center had been built on what was a strip of woods behind the subject house. Never thought that little strip was even a buildable piece as it was long and narrow but they figured out a way and I don’t want a place that backs up to retail–even as a rental.<br>
Otherwise it was OK but we were not in love with it either. Needed lots of cosmetics and the deck was a mess. Probably needs $20k in work to be ready to rent.
Just to punish ourselves we went by the one we just missed out on two weeks ago and it was PERFECT which is why it sold in one day. We’ll have to have a quicker agent next time. </p>
<p>We splurged and flew first class and that may be required for all cross-country trips for now on. It made a weekend cross-country trip somewhat fun and enjoyable. Being able to bypass the security lines was worth a lot as we might not have even made the flight out of Seattle. The airport was packed early (7am) Sat morning with spring breakers. Long lines everywhere. Also got to bypass the lines at Dulles which saved an hour. Was home by 12:30 am last night so I am a little bushed today.</p>
<p>barrons, sorry it didn’t work out, but good that you got to see it. </p>
<p>H and I have actually bought 2 different houses with only one of us actually seeing it when the offer was made. The first time in 2000 when I went to look for houses without H and what started as a “just looking” trip turned into “found a house that would be perfect” trip. I did take a roll of film and videotape though. </p>
<p>The next was our current house which I actually saw online and looked at all the photos and then told H to go see with the realtor. At that time I was still in our old house 500 miles away from his new job city/state. And he’d already looked at a million houses. I never set foot in the house or even saw it in person until the day we moved in last June.</p>