Before you purchased, how many....

[Anonymous]

...properties did you view? months did you look? real estate agents did you use?

[Anonymous]

1 year of looking.
Saw at least 70 houses in person.
1 agent.

[Anonymous]

In 2001: Searched Arlington for about 3-6 months. Lost two bids before my third went under contract (with an escalation clause!). Probably looked at several dozen townhomes. One agent.

In 2012: Looked online casually for about two weeks and then set foot in just one house (Falls Church) and bought it. One agent (not the same one as 2001).

[Anonymous]

2012. Looked in the winter to early spring. 1 agent, but interviewed like 8-10. Checked realtor.com religiously and DH and I were sending links to potential properties constantly. Our friends were even sending us properties (not that we hadn't seen EVERYTHING already). Saw less than 50 in person. Probably closer to 30. Ended up with the house we wanted (nothing that fell through, no lost bidding wars).

[Anonymous]

Online? Thousands.

In person? Dozens.

[Anonymous]

Personally I view them online, then seen maybe like 10, once I saw the right one, boom I grabbed it before its too late.

[Anonymous]

we must have seen over 50, looked over 6 months with one realtor (after a year of looking online from a different state before we moved). I looked at franklymls.com all the time, looked at many online. Researched lots of neighborhoods. In the end, stuck with the neighborhood I'd picked from afar! (walkable to work) Could have saved a lot of time if we'd limited our search to this neighborhood, but wouldn't have been as well informed, I suppose.

[Anonymous]

Many! Definitely dozens.

Probably close to a year w/ my agent but didn't start going out to see houses with her often until the last 6 mos or so- before that was to get Mris listings and make location decisions/etc.

[Anonymous]

Too many to count. Worked with one agent in 2004 and than again 2010. Both times agent sent us specific listings on Monday and Tuesday and again on Fridays, we used Redfin alongside. I will say this, if you know for sure what neighborhood you want to live in find out who the neighborhood agents are. they will always have the inside track. We found our current house because one agent in the office mentioned it to our agent and I am sure others within the office, and we were able to see it before it went public. We had our home inspection completed and our offer to the seller before the first open house. I think this is the reason why we got the house

[Anonymous]

We used one agent, looked at maybe...20-30 houses. Found one about to go on market, and bought it before it listed, w/o the realtor.

[Anonymous]

We looked for about a month with one agent, and saw about 12-15 properties in person. I was very familiar with the area in which we were looking, and it was easy to tell from online listings if something was even worth a trip in person.

[Anonymous]

One agent, close to 100 houses, one year.

[Anonymous]

2004---every single one on the market in our specified neighborhood---lost many contracts. This neighborhood peaked right around 2004/2005 before leveling off. We were commited to paying what we thought was realistic and not get caught up in 'escalations' and crazy bidding. We knew when to walk. Still have that house and it never lost value. I knew the market better than the local realtors and could usually predict sales price down to the dollar.

2007-2009 rented in our next target neighborhood. Only 1-2 houses ever come on the market every couple of months. We saw all of them (below, above, right at our price range). It gave us an excellent idea of true home value in the neighborhood. We were ready to strike when we saw something that had most of what we were after. Also-lost a few bids prior--but I think those are meant to be--what we ended up with was better than the others.

I think it is really necessary to narrow down to your specific neighborhood (after searching broader). Local markets vary so much---sometimes down to a single neighborhood within a single zipcode. A realtor that services a wider area isn't the best source for value---comps sometimes lag as well.

We didn't use an agent either time. If I did--I would make sure they were very specific to the location. They will also usually know about things that haven't hit the market yet.

[Anonymous]

Wanted to add--in my experience--things can look VASTLY different online than they do in person. Be careful about ruling out completely or getting too excited that it is 'the one'. You also can't get a good feel for the street, etc. from just the 'street level' map, etc. Also-- seeing in person lets you judge values in the neighborhood pretty quickly. You can quickly tell what is over-priced, etc.

[Anonymous]

One agent. Looked only in an 8 block by 8 block neighborhood. We looked at 3 houses. Put bids on on those and lost the first 2. Glad we lost, the third house was one of those "you know it when you see it" moments. We overbid on the 3rd and got it.