You can sample ice cream flavors, you can test drive a car, but testing a home before purchasing remains a rarity.
The Wall Street Journal covers a handful of developers, listing agents, and homeowners that are willing to let potential buyers “hang out with the neighbors, have dinner in the kitchen, or even spend a night or two in a home before making a final decision.”
Toll Brothers, for example, has a Fly and Buy program which allows buyers to travel to a new town where the property is, and put travel costs toward a purchase contract.