{"id":15815,"date":"2020-04-13T14:14:12","date_gmt":"2020-04-13T21:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?p=15815"},"modified":"2026-04-08T00:16:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T07:16:57","slug":"buyer-can-you-tour-a-house-without-leaving-your-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-can-you-tour-a-house-without-leaving-your-home\/","title":{"rendered":"You Can Tour a House Without Leaving Your Own Home: Here\u2019s How"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s finally spring, usually the \u201chottest\u201d time of the year to buy a house. And \u2014 as our Top Agent Insights Q1 2020 report<\/a> indicated \u2014 even with coronavirus conditions limiting the movement of a majority of Americans, 80% of polled agents found low mortgage interest rates<\/a> were boosting buyer demand for real estate purchases.<\/p>\n

What do you need to know about touring and buying a house without leaving your home? We collected feedback from agents who are helping buyers<\/a> like you find their dream home, even in global pandemic conditions.<\/p>\n

\"Check<\/a>
Source: (Sebastian Hietsch \/ Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What is allowed and not allowed right now?<\/h2>\n

Short answer is: it depends on where you live. The New York Times<\/i> put together this interactive map<\/a>, which is updated daily with cities and states and their individual regulations.<\/p>\n

In addition, each local or state government has decided whether to classify real estate activity as essential or non-essential independent of each other, so it might be helpful to check in with your local government to determine whether real estate agents are allowed to work or not.<\/p>\n

Can you tour a house without leaving your home?<\/h2>\n

Absolutely! There are several ways in which you can tour a listing from the safety of your own home.<\/p>\n

A pre-recorded virtual tour<\/a><\/b> is a pre-packaged video that shows the home in a specific order from beginning to end. It can be set to music, or an agent can narrate the home\u2019s most important selling features \u2014 but it won\u2019t be tailored to your specific buying needs \u2014 so it will have information that is more general to the home.<\/p>\n

To access a pre-recorded virtual tour, you will be clicking a link provided to you by the agent that will load on your web browser, or that will download to your computer or smartphone to be viewed locally. You can see an example of a pre-recorded virtual tour here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With a pre-recorded virtual tour, you can:<\/b><\/p>\n