Buying a Florida Home From Out Of State
What you need to know to Buy a florida home from out of state..
Buying a Florida home from out of state can be difficult for many reasons, but we have strategies you can implement to make the investment a lot easier!
Why it's hard to buy in Florida when you're out of state:
- You don’t know the area. Similar to many other locations in the states, Florida is very spotty. Some neighborhoods may be clean, safe and highly sought after, while streets just a few blocks away are areas to avoid.
- You don’t know anyone or have a preferred realtor to work with. Blindly picking a person to represent you on a massive investment from the internet may be intimidating.
- The quality and value of property in your price point may be drastically different from what you’re use to.
- You have to fly in to see properties and may only be here a few days. Quality inventory is still moving very quickly here in Florida. It’s also a disadvantage to only see what’s on the market over a weekend. The coming week, 300 more properties that fit your criteria could get listed.
- The laws differ from state to state. The transaction process may be different from the state you purchased in previously. Further, the zoning laws and restrictions will likely be different too.
Our Strategy to Make Buying a Florida home from Out of State Easier for You:
You don’t know the area.
You may not know Florida well enough to purchase a home from out of state, but we know Florida. And we know how to communicate with our buyers which areas they should seek and which locations they should avoid. We base this off our Out of State Buyer zoom call where we discuss what the property will be used for and the long terms goals for the property.
Some of our buyers are seeking to relocate full or part time, we call them snowbirds! Many of our investors are looking for short term rentals, and a few are looking to buy and hold in hopes the value skyrockets. Each scenario will have us looking in unique locations.
You don’t know anyone or have a preferred realtor to work with.
Most realtors would use this opportunity to express why you should work with them. Although I’m inclined to do that too, more than anything I want to help you make informed decisions.
Don’t work with a realtor just because their name attached to a house you like on zillow or realtor.com. Don’t work with someone you randomly google search and cick on one website link. There are many great realtors out there you will come across, over 40k in Tampa Bay alone. But there are also many half assed realtors our there and ones who have no idea what their doing or all the strategies to offer you in the purchase of your home.
When looking for a realtor for your out of state purchase, here's my suggestion.
Do some sifting through their website and social media platforms. Do they look and sound credible? How are they representing themselves on their social media? Check out their reviews. Look at their tagged photos. You can (and should) go as far as reaching out to people you see connected with this individual and ask if they recommend him/her.
Too many buyers looking to purchase a home, this might feel like overkill. But just think, you’re about to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars into a property. You’re about to put down thousands for a downpayment. This massive transaction is about to be facilitated by a real estate agent who should have your best interest in mind and be experienced. It’s important to choose wisely!
The quality and value of property may be drastically different.
It can be tough to alter your expectations. You may be from a location where home values are still very low. You could get something decent in some states for $250k still. But here in Florida, depending on what you’re looking for and where, obviously, values are typically double that in decent areas. Florida’s median sale price is over $400k.
The strategy we implement for out of state buyers...
The strategy we implement for our out of state buyers is both flexibility and exposure. The more listings you’re exposed to at different price points the more you’ll get a feel for value X price point. Flexibility comes into play with location. Since we work in all of central Florida and have teams in place from the pan handle to Orlando all the way down the gulf coast and over to Miami. We can recommend alternative locations based on your price range and criteria.
You have to fly in to see properties and may only be here a few days.
Over half of our showings on a day to day basis are virtual. Typically our process consists of.
- Agent preview. We like to check out the property first to make sure its even worth your time, based on your criteria.
- Send video walk through of property if we feel it fits your criteria.
- Offer a street view video to show off the neighborhood and provide a link to google earth.
- Do a LIVE facetime tour of the property showing more details.
- At this point the buyer can make arrangements to come view in person. We also frequently have buyers purchase based on the virtual showings.
The laws differ from state to state.
Our out of state buyers put a lot of trust in us. We are informed of all the laws and contractual details from deadlines to zoning laws. It can be tough not knowing exactly what you’re getting into or how the process works in a new state. We are not only on top of it FOR YOU, but we do a lot of informing and coaching to work WITH YOU so you’re in the loop and know what’s going on at all times.
Looking to Move to Florida?
360-306-1410
Kodie@lombardoheights.com
If you’re located out of state and looking to move to Florida, we’d love to assist you! Or at least have the opportunity to be interviewed by you to see if it’s a good fit!
Your first step to inquire about working with us is as easy as filling out the form below, or if you prefer, just shoot as a text or give us a call!