Buying a house from across the country comes with a unique set of challenges

Buying a house at any time can be stressful. But when relocating from one part of the country to another in a competitive seller’s market, the process poses even more hurdles to overcome.

Just ask Adam and Mariah Cooke. The couple had been preparing for their wedding when Adam was offered a job at Duke University as a track and field and cross country coach. They would have to move from Riverside, California, to Raleigh, North Carolina.

Flying to Raleigh to see every potential house was not practical. Not only would back-and-forth travel be costly, but during any particular visit, “there’s no way to guarantee that there’s going to be houses that you want to go see, or that you would want to put an offer on,” says Mariah, 27. Instead, they had to plan their visits wisely.

The Cookes depended on their real estate agent to show them potential properties via FaceTime.

To streamline the process, they had their agent ask sellers in advance for disclosures such as improvements and upgrades. That let them rule out certain properties upfront, such as those with an old roof or air-conditioning system.

They also requested a market analysis for potential houses, which showed similar properties that had sold within the past three months. That helped them gauge whether a particular house would appraise for the amount they were willing to offer.