By admin1
When touring a house by video, focus on the things that are hardest to judge through a screen. Ask your agent about odors and noise, request close-up views of walls and floors, confirm room dimensions and natural light, and have them point out anything that looks different from the listing photos.
You’ve found a home online that checks every box – the right square footage, the right neighborhood, the right price. But you’re hours away, relocating for work, or simply can’t get there in person before someone else does. A video chat tour with your agent may be the next best thing, but only if you know what to ask.
Whether you’re buying a home in Seattle, WA and touring remotely from across the country, or you’re a first-time buyer in Atlanta, GA trying to move quickly in a competitive market, a well-prepared list of questions can mean the difference between a smart purchase and a costly surprise. Here’s what to ask before, during, and after your video chat home tour.
Quick checklist for a video home tour
Ask your agent to:
- Describe any unusual odors
- Pause so you can hear indoor and outdoor noise
- Show room dimensions and doorway widths
- Give you close-up views of walls, ceilings, floors, and counters
- Show the amount and direction of natural light
- Check visible wear or damage
- Walk through outdoor and common areas
- Tell you what looks different from the listing photos
Questions to ask before your video home tour
Getting a few things squared away before the call starts can make the tour itself far more productive.
1. Do any listing details or photos raise immediate concerns?
Andrew Fortune, owner of Great Colorado Homes, starts every video tour with a review of the listing itself: “Before starting a video chat, the first thing I do is make sure that there are no deal breakers in the listing details or photos. In order to film a home, I need to schedule the showing and the seller has to get the house ready. If there are any deal breakers that could eliminate this home from the list, I want to know those first to avoid bothering the seller.”
This is a practical place to start. If the square footage, lot size, HOA fees, or property taxes are already outside your range, confirm that before anyone schedules anything.
2. Can you send me a floor plan I can reference during the tour?
A floor plan gives you a spatial frame of reference that a moving camera simply can’t replicate. You can track which room you’re in, how rooms connect, and whether the layout makes sense for how you live – all in real time.
3. What should we prioritize during the tour?
Fortune recommends coming prepared with a focused list of priorities. “If the house is worth scheduling a showing, then I get them to prepare a list of questions ahead of time so that we make sure to focus on items they are most concerned or interested in. This helps us get the best use of our time.”
A video tour moves fast. Knowing in advance that you want extra time in the primary bedroom, the basement, or the backyard keeps things from feeling rushed.
>> Read: What to Look for When Buying a House
4. If we lose connection, what’s the backup plan?
Spotty Wi-Fi happens. Ask your agent ahead of time whether they can record a video walkthrough to send afterward, and which rooms or features you’d want them to revisit if the call drops.
Questions to ask during your video home tour
This is where your preparation pays off. The following questions target the things a video feed is most likely to miss.
1. Can you describe any odors in the home?
This is one of the most overlooked aspects of a remote tour, and one of the most telling. Chris Lara, CEO of Invision Studio, puts it plainly: “Buyers should ask their agent to describe any lingering odors – pet smells, mustiness, smoke, or overpowering air fresheners that could be masking moisture issues.”
An unusually strong air freshener in a specific room like a basement, bathroom, or laundry area, can be a sign worth noting.
>> Read: House Hunting Red Flags
2. Can you stand quietly in each room for a moment?
Noise is invisible on a video tour unless someone listens for it. Lara recommends having your agent “stand silently in each room so the mic can pick up traffic, aircraft, HVAC hum, or noisy neighbors.” A home near a flight path or a busy intersection can feel very different in person than it looks in listing photos.
3. Can you hold up a measuring tape against the ceilings, doorways, and hallways?
Screen scale is notoriously deceptive. What looks like a spacious primary suite can turn out to be a tight fit for a king bed and two nightstands. Lara advises requesting “a measuring tape reference against ceilings and doorways, plus a normal-paced walkthrough to gauge true room proportions and hallway widths for furniture or accessibility needs.” This is especially worth doing in older homes, where doorways and hallways tend to be narrower than in newer construction.
4. Can you show me close-up shots of the countertops, ceilings, walls, and floors?
Virtual tour technology is designed to make homes look their best. As Lara notes, “Matterport 3D tours and 360 virtual tours are stitched and staged to flatter the property” – and the polished result can smooth right over chips, water stains, hairline cracks, and warping. Ask your agent to move the camera close to surfaces so you can see what the wide-angle view might be hiding.
5. What direction does natural light come from, and at what time of day are we touring?
A room that looks bright and cheerful at 2 p.m. may feel entirely different on a winter morning. Ask your agent which direction each main room faces so you can gauge how much natural light you’d realistically get throughout the day.
>> Read: How to Evaluate Natural Light When Buying a Home
6. How old are the major systems and appliances?
Ask specifically about the age of the HVAC system, water heater, roof, and kitchen appliances. These are among the most expensive items to replace, and they’re easy to overlook on a video call when you’re focused on how the space looks.
7. Do any surfaces, walls, or ceilings look worn or damaged?
Even with close-up shots, video lighting can be unforgiving in some areas and flattering in others. Prompt your agent to look for water staining on ceilings, soft spots or warping in flooring, and any cracks or gaps around windows and doors.
8. For single-family homes: how close are neighboring homes?
Proximity to neighbors affects more than noise – it affects privacy, sightlines from windows, and how the outdoor space actually functions. Have your agent step outside and give you a realistic sense of the lot and its relationship to adjacent properties.
9. For condos or multi-unit buildings: can you show me the common areas and hallways?
The condition of shared spaces such as entryways, elevators, hallways, amenity rooms, can tell you a lot about how a building is managed and maintained. These areas are easy to skip on a quick tour, so ask for them specifically.
10 In carpeted areas, can you walk around and listen for creaking?
Squeaking or creaking underfoot in carpeted areas can point to subfloor issues that aren’t visible on camera. It’s a quick check that can flag a potentially significant repair before you’re under contract.
Questions to ask after your video home tour
The tour isn’t over when the call ends. A good debrief with your agent can surface details that didn’t come through on camera.
1. Did anything look noticeably different in person compared to the listing photos?
This is one of the most useful questions you can ask. Irina Norrell, real estate advisor with the Irina Norrell Team, frames it this way: “Professional photos are a curated tool for selling a home; a phone tour shows reality in fleeting fragments, not perfect snapshots you can study. Ask your agent which rooms didn’t match the photos, and why. Their insights will help you cut through the marketing, piece those fragments together, and get a truer sense of what the home feels like in person.”
2. Was there anything about the home that gave you pause?
Your agent is physically in the space and may have noticed things they didn’t call out during the tour – a soft spot in the floor, a smell that didn’t quite fit, a view that was partially blocked. Give them a direct opening to share any concerns.
3. Can you walk through the neighborhood on camera after the tour?
If time allows, a quick drive or walk around the surrounding streets can give you a much better feel for the area than any listing description. Even a few minutes of footage can help you understand what it would actually be like to live there.
4. Can you record a video walkthrough I can revisit?
Fortune offers this as a standard part of his process: “I let them know that I will walk the home and make another video after the video chat is over so that they can virtually revisit the home. This helps them relax and know that our video chat is more of a discussion and not their final viewing.”
Having a recording means you can review rooms at your own pace, show the home to family members who weren’t on the call, and catch details you may have missed in real time.
What a video home tour can’t always show you
A live video tour can give you a much better sense of a home than listing photos alone, but some details are still difficult to judge through a screen. Odors, noise levels, room proportions, surface damage, natural light, and the overall feel of the surrounding area may require your agent to investigate more closely on your behalf.
A video tour also isn’t a substitute for a professional home inspection. If you decide to move forward with the property, an inspection can provide a closer look at the home’s condition and major systems.
>>Read: Virtual Tour vs. In-Person Showing: What Homebuyers Should Know
Make the most of every home tour
A video chat tour works best when it’s treated as a conversation, not a presentation. The right questions push past the polished listing photos and get you closer to what the home actually is – its sounds, its smells, its quirks, and its condition.
If you’re comparing homes or planning a remote tour, you can explore homes for sale near you or connect with a local agent for help coordinating an in-person or video tour.
FAQ: Questions to ask when touring a house virtually
1. What should I ask during a video home tour?
Ask your agent to open closets, cabinets, and appliances to check storage, and request close-ups of the ceiling, water heater, and HVAC to spot damage or old equipment. Have them open a window to check outdoor noise, and stand still in each room with artificial lights off to evaluate natural light.
2. What should I look for when touring a house virtually?
Watch for wide-angle camera distortion exaggerating room sizes, and check ceiling lines and door frames for cracks indicating foundation settling. Also examine flooring transitions, sink moisture marks, and window seal conditions.
3. Are video home tours worth it?
Video tours are an effective initial screening tool that saves time, money, and energy by eliminating dealbreakers remotely. While great for narrowing down choices, most buyers still prefer an in-person walk-through before closing.
4. What can’t you tell from a video home tour?
You cannot gauge smells, such as lingering pet odors, cigarette smoke, or damp basement mildew. Video also obscures general neighborhood atmosphere, street noise, parking availability, property slope, and indoor cell phone reception.
5. Can you make an offer after touring a home by video?
Yes, making a sight-unseen offer is common for long-distance relocations or competitive markets. Protect your investment by including home inspection and appraisal contingencies to renegotiate or back out if issues arise.
