Out of State Investor - How to verify if property is C or B class

[James Olympia]

Hello everyone. I'm an out of state investor from California and I'm ready to buy in Columbus, OH.  My financials are set, I have a Property Manager and Realtor. My only concern is how to verify if the property for sale is indeed in a good or bad neighborhood since I cannot visit the area in person. Does anyone have a secret website or trick they use to verify if the location or property is what the realtor claims it to be. I trust my realtor but my logical brain wants to verify. Buying out of state adds another layer of risk, but I cannot afford the California duplexes and 4plexes. Any advice or idea are highly appreciated. Thank you all in advance. 

[Mark Cruse]

I don't know what level of experience you have but it seems like you are setting yourself up for failure. In my opinion no matter what the situation is, if you cant get to a location to assess an investment you plan to sink thousands of dollars into, you don't need it. In all my years of REI I cant think of one intelligent or logical reason that could ever prompt me to purchase an asset I have never seen. This business is not easy and if you depend on others to do this stuff and have no desire or ability to understand it yourself, you are at the mercy of others. What if your realtor is a jackass or liar that just wants the commission and would say anything? A very wide range of property managers are incompetent and could care less about you or how successful you are. Every suggestion that has been made in here still could produce inaccurate results in places like Baltimore and several others. If you don't want to or are unable to be hands on enough to at least place eyes on your own property I'd advise you to just put it in a high yield mutual fund or dividend stock. I would feel irresponsible providing you with advice to something I feel would set you up for potential disaster.