Don't believe your property manager when they say...

[Rodney Sums]

"Everything looks great"

If you're new to being a landlord and use property managers, even out of town, I share this story to encourage you to ALWAYS do your own move out inspection.

One of my PMs recently told me they inspected the property, took pics of the whole house, said "everything looked great", theyd be refunding the full deposit, and I should consider replacing the carpet.  I drove the 6 hrs to look myself and found:

Large holes in multiple doors, big stains in carpets, poor carpet cleaning not done professionally (likely from a Rug Dr., hence the buy new carpet comment).

Another PM for another home said "everything looked great". I drove the 3 hrs to look and found:

Evidence dogs resided at the property when the lease said no pets (I did some research and found pics of tenants with the dogs in the home), dirty and scratched drywall, red screws in the walls in several rooms, unchanged HVAC filters, carpet stain, and filthy appliances.

These aren't the only times and I tried to keep it short for your reading.   This happens even with really good property managers, and despite having them do 6 month inspections while occupied..  Always inspect yourself if you can, so you can make sure it comes out of the deposit not your pocket. 

[Michael Smythe]

Why settle for pics? Everyone has a cell phone that allows video.

So, you can either REQUIRE narrated videos of do a live video chat and have your PMC walk-thru how you want them - while recording it.