In today’s challenging housing market, buyers are competing for a limited inventory of homes, while at the same time seeing prices continue to climb and mortgage rates increase.
To better understand the current state of home shopping, LendingTree surveyed more than 1,000 homeowners about their buying experiences, and found that the current climate has buyers making offers on homes without even seeing them.
Here’s what they found:
- Nearly half (47%) who bought a home in the past two years made an offer without physically touring the home. Comparatively, 24% of homebuyers overall and 12% who purchased their most recent home 10 or more years ago did the same.
- 30% of homeowners say the house they live in wasn’t their first choice.
- In the past two years, 24% paid more than the asking price, versus 5% who bought 10 or more years ago.
- 63% of recent homebuyers say they’ve lost sleep over the process.
- More than a third of recent buyers say they plan to move within the next five years. Almost half of these newer buyers (48%) say they plan to upsize with their next purchase.
The takeaway:
“Buying a home sight unseen may seem like a good option if you’re in a hurry and want to make an offer as soon as possible, but it can easily backfire,” said LendingTree Senior Economist, Jacob Channel. “If you do decide to buy a home sight unseen, be sure that it has been professionally inspected by someone you can trust, that way, at the very least, you’ll know if there’s anything structurally wrong with the home before it becomes yours.”
To read the full report, click here.
