Buying sight unseen? Don’t wear blinders

report from his inspector, including a 1 1/2-page punch list of things needing attention. The seller agreed to repair every item.

Still, some sellers don’t like the idea of taking their homes off the market for a buyer who has never seen their places.

“If buyers are peeing their pants so badly that they have to sign a contract sight-unseen, they should shoulder the risk,” says Virginia broker David Rathgeber. “Why should the seller take his home off the market for a month or so when a buyer can suddenly decide, ‘Oh, I want to see it,’ goes to see it and cancels the contract?”

To counteract that argument, agree to visit and inspect the house within a short period — say, seven to 10 days. On the flip side, sellers should insist on such a clause if the buyer wants to visit and inspect the place before closing.

It’s also a good idea for buyers to check out the house’s neighborhood. You may not be able to go inside the house, but you can drive around the community to get a feel for where you hope to reside.

“I always, always, always show (clients) around the neighborhood,” says Redfin’s Lindsay Katz, who is Sanchez’s agent. She even goes so far as turning off any lights in her vehicle so they can see the house in the natural light, and opening the car windows to hear any street noise.

“If there are issues with the inside of a house, they can get those fixed, but they can’t fix a neighborhood,” Katz warns.

If you are moving from outside the area and cannot visit in person, use your local agent as your eyes, advises California agent Tracy McLaughlin, who has sold a number of homes sight-unseen over the years.

To get a sense of the neighborhood, the agent should begin her camera tour

“blocks down the street from the house, so there is a sense of the whole,” McLaughlin says. And once inside, the agent should be sure the camera angles include the scale of ceiling heights and how much light there is in the house.

During the tour, says Danielle Parent, a Redfin agent in Cleveland, the agent should be pointing out things the camera misses, such as foundation cracks and the condition and age of the roof and windows. And the agent should advise you of the condition of surrounding houses so you will know if your neighbors take pride in ownership.

Orlando Redfin agent Juan Castro says he hasn’t seen many sight-unseen offers fall apart. But when they do, he said, it’s “usually because of the community or the location of the house.” For example, the place backs up to a highway or a shopping center.