[codefreeordie]

I rented a house entirely online.

On the one hand, it went okay. I live at that house now, and it is fine.

The neighborhood, it turns out, is more or less what it looked like online. The house is too sorta, but it's in really much worse condition than it seemed. When your only imagery is either staged model photos or low-res Whatsapp footage of the live showing, it's easy not to notice even glaring damage -- partly because the camera is held by someone with an agenda (show off the property in it's best light) and partly because you just don't notice some stuff.

It was also hard to gauge how big the rooms would feel -- this is hard in person in showings too, but it seemed harder virtually.

And no, home purchases +/- can't be undone. There are monumental costs associated with getting out of a housing contract, even if you discover material problems.