I guess it depends on your wants and needs. If you are looking for shelter of a certain size in a certain area, with Denita's excellent suggestions, I think it would be great. But if you are hoping for just exactly the right house, you may end up disappointed without an in-person walk-through. Your satisfaction (or lack of) may depend on how long you expect to live there. One can put up with a lot for a short time.

Would it be possible to rent for a few months, while you look for a house?

"deadly allergies to fur and feathers"........are you moving to Alaska or Maine? The land of fur. I love Maine ( Alaska is too far). I have to walk in a house first to feel if it's truly home sweet home. That's something you can't do online.....,,,

Expatriating to southern New Hampshire. Probably should make any offer conditional on my daughter's inspection. She does some for our mortgage business already. And like all true Millennials, she loves traveling!

I have a strong need to feel the neighborhood. I've been known to park and watch the traffic for an hour at a time. One of the reasons we bought this house was that we watched neighbors walking their dogs and stopping and talking. It was exactly what we needed, wanted and got.

Funny, I've always checked to see that the neighbours didn't have dogs outside barking!

The dogs don't bark here because the neighbors are so good about walking them and caring for them.

Don't see where the notion of baking dogs came from???

I nearly bought a home that 1/2 way across the country without stepping foot in it. The realtor used FaceTime to take me along on the viewing of the home, and I found a good inspector to use if needed. I used Google Street View to check out the surrounding streets. I knew the neighborhood from living in the town 20-some years ago, so not a completely unknown quantity (but the house itself was).

Don't see where the notion of baking dogs came from???

We bought our old vacation house remotely, but with a five day walk away. The market was relatively hot and we had just sold our condo, when I found what looked to be the right house online. DD saw it with a realtor and approved and we made an offer contingent upon a 5 day walk away giving DH that weekend to make a quick flight out to see it first. I was in charge of an event at home that weekend, but still remember his call -- he hadn't even been in it yet and was in the yard waiting on the realtor to show up, but he knew "this is it." That was in July and we had owned it 4 months before I even saw it at Thanksgiving.

The walk away contingency came about because a few months earlier we made an offer on another new build remotely with no one from our family available to see it. Fortunately, we were out bid -- when we finally drove by it when we were in town a month later, all we could see was the monster power line behind it! This was before google street view and all we could see were the listing pictures, floor plan and list of finishes.

No, I would never buy a property without investigating it in person.

It is difficult to capture smell and noises in and around the property through video, movies and pictures.

^^This is true. And sushipup1 gave the #1 reason most people wouldn't consider buying without also seeing the property first or having the ability to cancel within X days: I have a strong need to feel the neighborhood.

Most buyers know immediately if the house if for them or not IME. Usually they know within about 8 seconds of getting to the property if it will work for their family or not. I have had buyers say they want the house when they have just stepped into the front door and they want to leave immediately to make an offer! I've had others say - lets not even go inside (this is back to your 'feeling the neighborhood' idea).

But, there are a few buyers that have the ability to buy sight unseen - and most do send a representative to the property to get the feel for it (relative or close friend).

Don't do it! My husband and I found our "dream" home on Trulia in Tennessee (while still in Texas), so he sent me to look at it.

Seriously. I never got past the first floor. Pictures lie. While we knew we would want to update a couple of the rooms, we did not realize what poor shape the rest of the house was in. This house absolutely sparkled in the pictures.

Good lighting and photoshop can do wonders these days. I know. I am a photography hobbyist. :)

We did close on another "dream" house that we also found on Trulia, but I entered the house with much lower expectations. Thankfully, it did not disappoint and we are thrilled with it!