The Drive By

I would love start looking at houses…. But so far I cannot find one that I like enough online to go look at in person. Fortunately though, my friend is currently looking for her first home as well and she brought me along to do a “Windshield Tour.” I thought it was such a good idea -  that I am sharing it with you!

A “Windshield Tour” is essentially a neighborhood tour.  You drive by houses you see online that you like that meet your criteria. By doing a windshield tour you can determine if you like the area. It allows you to see how close together houses are, how big are the yards, what do the neighboring homes look like, what is the overall feel of the neighborhood.  How close is the closest grocery store, how close is the highway and any other exterior features that may be important to you.

This can be very enlightening.  You may love the way a home looks online (sometimes pictures can be deceiving) and once you drive by you realize you really don’t want to move into the area where the house is located.  When I went with my friend on her “windshield tour” we eliminated two out of the five houses she wanted to see solely based on the information we gathered from our drive by.

There are many things you can change about a home- but location the is not one. There is really no sense in touring a home and falling in love with it if you don’t like the location.  So my advice is to make sure before you tour a home that it passes the drive-by test. 

Thanks everyone- hopefully I will have some homes to preview soon and discuss with you- after they pass the drive by test of course!