Buying an investment property remotely and trust home inspection

[Account Closed]

I am in the greater Austin area, and the market of 500K and lower housing is booming, people is buying project houses cash like it is candy outside a school. This phenomenon has attracted lots of remote investors, people from all over the country (and the world) are moving to this promised land.

I am certain that everyone wants to strike gold with their flip, 25%-30% net after everything has been said and done it is nice and very feasible. However there is a key piece in this process, assessing the condition of the property.

So people go online look for an inspector, check reviews, wow five starts! this is the guy i need! Send the info, inspector visits the property, customer gets the report within 24 hours, now they can move forward. Well not so fast, there is so many limitations and misunderstandings among the inspection process that the investor could be easily blindly buying a lemon with no knowledge at all.

I am attaching some pointer of how to get the best out of the inspection and how to have a realistic feel for the property.

First: Home inspections are visual in nature, we the inspector don't check underground piping, we dot move stuff, we don't open holes, we make recommendations and comments, but you the investor needs to act upon the information you are obtaining.

Second: Learn about the house. If the house is over 40 years and never updated, you have to put money aside to bring a plumber, electrician, roofer and maybe foundation guy. Have those professionals already pre-selected, specially if you are in tight option period, they will tackle everything quickly if you are ready.

Third: Research your property, what kind of zoning does it have? Is everything permitted, stuff that have been grandfathered? do i need to bring the whole ting up to a new code?. Commercial fellows, do we have asbestos around (sometimes abatement will cost more than the price of the property alone).

Fourth: Test your inspector, did he just went by spent 45 minutes took few pictures and now wants 350 dollars. Or did this person crawled the basement, climbed in to the attic at 110 degrees, checked every single outlet, every single door, every single window?

Investors need a clear picture, investors need facts, investors aren't handymen, investors move inventory quickly, efficiently and with a profit in mind, otherwise it wouldn't be an investment.

Bottom line, make sure that your inspector is not only a good one, make sure he is flip house proficient and proactive, thats the kind of people you need on your side, specially if you are doing this from afar.

Cheers!!!

Hipolito Castano

Professional Real Estate Inspector