How to find real estate without specifying a location
December 7, 2019 10:57 PM Subscribe
I want to move somewhere by finding the perfect home, but without knowing where that somewhere is I don't know how to go about even looking for the perfect home.
I'm window shopping for my perfect home but I don't have a specific location in mind. I work remotely and I'm open to living just about anywhere in the US. I have a pretty good idea as to what kind of home I'm looking for in terms of age, size, foundation type, # bedrooms, etc., but all of the major real estate websites (Zillow, Trulia) as well as the websites for my local real estate agencies all require that a location be used as the basis for a search. Is there a way for me to search the entire US for listings that meet my criteria?
I'm window shopping for my perfect home but I don't have a specific location in mind. I work remotely and I'm open to living just about anywhere in the US. I have a pretty good idea as to what kind of home I'm looking for in terms of age, size, foundation type, # bedrooms, etc., but all of the major real estate websites (Zillow, Trulia) as well as the websites for my local real estate agencies all require that a location be used as the basis for a search. Is there a way for me to search the entire US for listings that meet my criteria?
You can zoom out extremely far in Redfin (like, from LA to SF) as long as your search criteria is narrow enough (for example- minimum price $10 million). But even that produces 500+ results, so I hope you have something VERY specific in mind.
posted by acidic at 11:30 PM on December 7, 2019
posted by acidic at 11:30 PM on December 7, 2019
I would start limiting by climate, environment, view, price, cost of living. Climate Change means I'd leave out anything south of the Mason-Dixon line in the east, and leave out a lot of the desert Southwest. I moved someplace where I could have a pleasant view. Many people like living in college towns.
Real estate has generally been extremely local. Your house requirements can likely be met in many places. The real estate listing sites try to block data scraping, but maybe a clever program or site could search.
posted by theora55 at 5:11 AM on December 8, 2019
Real estate has generally been extremely local. Your house requirements can likely be met in many places. The real estate listing sites try to block data scraping, but maybe a clever program or site could search.
posted by theora55 at 5:11 AM on December 8, 2019
Type of house will vary somewhat by location. For instance, houses only have basements in areas that do not have high water tables; houses in snowy climates don't usually have flat roofs; lots of cities have 100+ year old bungalows; etc.
You could also just choose a place, buy a lot, and have your dream house built on it.
posted by mareli at 5:27 AM on December 8, 2019
You could also just choose a place, buy a lot, and have your dream house built on it.
posted by mareli at 5:27 AM on December 8, 2019
Yeah, some of it will filter before you even think about location because of the parameters of your dream house. Like, if your dream house is a Spanish Colonial, you probably shouldn’t waste time looking in Wisconsin.
And you can do some filtering by location first. Even if you find the exact house you’re looking for, would you still buy it if it were in Flint? Compton? Mullen, Nebraska?
If you’re not in any hurry, why not just do individual city searches for the top 100 or however many US metro areas? If you could look at three each day, you’d be done in a month.
Another thing I’d recommend is to not look at current listings. Zillow has a Recently Sold feature that will show you many more results so that you get a better idea of the market, both in terms of pricing and in terms of whether the house you’re looking for is even available. Then, once you’ve gone through your major metros to get an idea of the market, you could then narrow down the potential locations and do current listings searches in each of them.
posted by kevinbelt at 7:21 AM on December 8, 2019
And you can do some filtering by location first. Even if you find the exact house you’re looking for, would you still buy it if it were in Flint? Compton? Mullen, Nebraska?
If you’re not in any hurry, why not just do individual city searches for the top 100 or however many US metro areas? If you could look at three each day, you’d be done in a month.
Another thing I’d recommend is to not look at current listings. Zillow has a Recently Sold feature that will show you many more results so that you get a better idea of the market, both in terms of pricing and in terms of whether the house you’re looking for is even available. Then, once you’ve gone through your major metros to get an idea of the market, you could then narrow down the potential locations and do current listings searches in each of them.
posted by kevinbelt at 7:21 AM on December 8, 2019
Try looking at the cheapoldhouses instagram feed. She features beautiful historic properties from all over the U.S. mostly <100K, with some special exceptions. If your dream house is new, it won't work, but if you'd consider a special older home she might have your place.
posted by shadygrove at 7:27 AM on December 8, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by shadygrove at 7:27 AM on December 8, 2019 [7 favorites]
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Also, if you're that indifferent to location I'm not sure why you're limiting yourself. There are places in the world where you can build your perfect home from scratch for a lot cheaper than purchasing one in the U.S.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 11:12 PM on December 7, 2019