Buying your home in Denver from a distance

Most Exclusive Buyer's Agents have been in the position of previewing homes for clients located at a distance, and some have even picked out the home their clients would eventually buy, sight unseen. It's a natural thing for an Exclusive Buyer's Agent to do. We've seen thousands of homes, and we get to know our clients via phone calls and email well enough to know what they'd probably like. We're specialists when it comes to buying homes. That's all we do every day.

My first long-distance home buyer simply couldn't get to the U.S. from Sweden until it was time to move. He had a list of requirements due to a disabled spouse that made it a real challenge. At that time online photo storage sites like Flickr were very uncommon, and digital cameras weren't a routine part of an agent's toolbox like they are now. So photos had to be sent through the mail. Fortunately, this client had a local friend who could go along with me and look at prospective houses. We were able to find just the right house, and it suited my clients when they saw it.

The next client who bought a house sight unseen was a single woman moving from the midwest who couldn't be there even for closing. So I handled everything. She, too, had a local friend who was able to take a look at the house we had narrowed down. By then I had a digital camera and was able to send her photos via email. The house was perfect for her, and she especially loved the mountain view from the deck in the back yard.

I've chosen homes for overseas and out-of-state buyers often since those early days, and now it's routine. Sometimes clients are able to view Denver real estate in person, sometimes I look at Denver homes on their behalf until they arrive to look at houses themselves, and sometimes I pick out the home they'll eventually buy but the first time they see it is when they move in. The trick is having a sense of what they're after, which means lots of questions from me, sending lots of listings from the Denver MLS, and lots of professional advice about location, home quality, local Denver amenities and a host of other factors.

If you're interested in having an agent serve as your alter ego while searching for Denver real estate, find an agent you have good rapport with, tell her as much as you can about what you're looking for (being flexible on everything!), and be prepared to make some decisions without having all the information. If you can come and look at the end of the process, so much the better. But if not, then you can generally trust your Exclusive Buyer's Agent in Denver to help you find the best home for your needs.