How to Find a House while Deployed

For servicemembers deployed far from the cities and towns they call home, there are certain difficulties that come with buying real estate. Even if you know exactly how to apply for a VA mortgage, the house hunting part can get a little complicated. But do not worry, we have got some tips and tricks to help you find the perfect home no matter how far abroad you may be.

Challenges for deployed house hunters

It goes without saying that finding a home without actually being able to walk through it is less than ideal. It can be hard to get a real feel for the space from pictures and descriptions alone. That is because we use all of our senses when exploring a new home, and when you are not present, you are pretty much limited to just seeing and reading.

This makes it hard to understand other facets of a home, like:

• Noise. Can you hear your neighbors through thin walls? Does sound from the street carry into your building?
• Water pressure. Easy to overlook, but incredibly important from day to day. This is something you have to feel to really understand.
• Air circulation. What’s the HVAC situation like? Too hot? Too cold? Is it drafty or confining? Even the most detailed description can not really capture the feeling.
• Odors. That mid-century modern wallpaper may look amazing. But is it absorbing any smells from previous parties? And proximity to fresh produce is easy to spin as a positive, but how noticeable is that farm down the street when the windows are open?
• Spatial relations. Architecture students know this to be true: The true size of a space can not really be replicated in images. Colors and décor can stretch or shrink walls, make small windows look big, and all other manner of optical illusions.
• Neighborhood feeling. This might be the most intangible factor of all. How cool are your neighbors? What is the general atmosphere: Fun? Artsy? Noisy? Scary? Are there dogs? All of these questions, and MANY others, are very hard to answer without walking around and hanging out. It can take weeks, maybe even months, to really get a feel for this one.

These are just some of the factors that are hard to identify when you are miles away and a timely tour is out of the question. But this is the 21^st century! Technology is on our side. Data is everywhere if you know where to look. We work, shop, and spend a lot of time in virtual worlds. And that means the classic picture, description, or floorplan combo is just the start of your digital house-hunting journey.

Virtual house tours

In the past decade or so, the virtual house tour has become a real estate agent’s best friend. That is because of two main developments: the rapid advancement of 3D-image capture technology, and our increased collective comfortability navigating virtual space.

Camera tech has gotten so advanced so quickly, that the pictures we take with our phones are in many ways more detailed than the best that pros could muster with top-of-the-line gear mere years ago. More pixels, a wider breadth of colors, and built-in AI editors all help our pictures look brighter, bolder, and more true-to-life. All of these advancements apply to 3D cameras as well. Gone are the days of blurry edges, blind spots, and trippy fish-eye lenses. Exceptional tech is now widely accessible. The result? Today’s 3D house tours are detailed, clear, and accurate. It even feels like you’re there—which brings us to that other development.

Exploring a space on your phone or computer screen is helpful, but it is not the full picture. That is where virtual reality (VR) comes in. VR headsets have been around for a while, but they have really come into their own in the last few years with big players like Meta and Apple investing billions to bring them to the masses. One of the most compelling uses of VR technology is capturing the feeling of being somewhere far away. That is what makes it so appealing for those looking to buy and sell real estate abroad. With a simple headset, you can get a pretty accurate experience of moving around a real space, viewing it from different angles, and even in different lighting conditions.

This combination of better-quality imaging, and more immersive viewing, makes house hunting in VR and in 3D feel a lot closer to the real thing.

Utilizing Google Maps for house hunting

But VR and 3D house tours can only go so far. You are usually tethered to the specific views that your seller or real estate agent may want to show you. Not to worry—for a more unbiased experience, you can consult a less-flashy bit of tech.

You have likely used Google Maps for directions and navigation. But it is also an incredible tool for real estate research. There is an incredible amount of data on there. You can browse local businesses, read reviews, see street traffic at different times of the day, discover nearby attractions and public transit routes, and a lot more. You can even see which neighbors are posting their homes on vacation rental sites, and how much they are charging for a night in the neighborhood. All of this data paints an incredibly detailed picture of life on your future block. It is the kind of unvarnished look your agent might not advertise.

And even better, with the Street View option on Google Maps, you can see what almost any house looks like from the curb on an average day. Because these images are collected at random by Google’s fleet of vehicles, there is no way for the homeowner to sugarcoat what you are seeing. Click around in Street View to explore the area. Pay attention to details like the condition of surrounding buildings, diversity of plants and trees, even the types of cars you see. All of these little details can tell you a lot about a home and its neighborhood.

Google Street View even offers some perspectives that are impossible to get from a real walk. If you click “See more dates,” in the upper left corner of your screen, you can see what a home or street looked like the last time a Google-mobile drove by. That is right, you can time travel! This is helpful for learning about the recent history of a neighborhood, and seeing if there were any changes made to the building over the last 15 years or so. Was there a different roof? A deck redo? A different color door? Is there more litter than there used to be? This is all valuable information.

Using additional online resources to find a house

After you have taken a VR tour of a home and clicked around time and space with Google Maps, there is more information to be discovered. Head on over to your local municipality’s website. With a little digging around, you’ll be able to view a property’s records—everything from deeds and zoning notices to tax information and transfer details. It is all public knowledge, so learn as much as you can!

It is also good to do a broader search as well. Browse the archives and backlogs of local publications. Were there floods or fires in the area? Economic downturns or epidemics or infestations? What is the local political scene like? Any exciting historic events or noteworthy celebrations? The more you know, the better positioned you will be when it’s time to choose a lender and apply for your VA loan.

Have a friend or family member house hunt in your place

Even with all of the impressively large amounts of data you can find online, there is still nothing quite like that boots-on-the-ground feeling. That is why, if you know someone who lives near the area you’re looking to move to, it pays to have them do some exploration in your stead.

Feel free to hop on a video call with them when they do. Or just ask them some very specific questions. You do not want their takeaway to be something like “It was cool.” You can ascertain that from Google Maps. You need them to take note of the things that simply cannot be translated to the digital world. The smells, the sounds, the overall feeling. With a good, trustworthy friend to report back to you, it is like you are right there with them. Just remember to thank them again in person when you are back home.

No need to take leave to take a tour

Whether you are stationed abroad for a while, or just about to be discharged, it is important to know that you can do a lot of heavy lifting in the homebuying game without being there in person. Thanks to technology like VR, 3D house tours, Google Maps, and online archives, you can arm yourself with the knowledge you need to truly understand the property you’re looking to buy. And with a little help from local friends and family, you can make informed decisions no matter how far away you may be stationed.