Best way to manage property out of town

[Adrienne McCloud]

My family owns two houses in Brown Springs, Birmingham, AL. They were passed down in the family so no mortgage. Over the years it has been hard to find honest and reliable assistance managing the properties. Any suggestions for managing properties from afar? Or company/freelance suggestions? 

Thanks, 

[Rachel Fourquet]

Hi Adrienne, 

My husband and I are in the same boat of feeling disenchanted with what we are paying for in a management company.

My hope is to self manage our next property and I have started brainstorming what that would look like if our next property is afar .

Here are the main hurdles & potential solutions I have brainstormed:

1. Listing: This is an area I feel confident could be achievable from afar since we keep several images of our long distance property in the cloud.
2.  Showing: this may be the most logistically challenging; but pending how far the property is, I would try to set aside time to get a lockbox / codebox on the door.
3. Background check: perform ourselves.
4. Lease: Digital.
5. Maintenance / cleaning: I have built some connections with contractors in the area of our property already; I am sure building those relationships would be an ongoing effort.
6. Communication: I feel confident handling this from anywhere! I would be willing to communicate with tenants via email or phone.

I am sure this just scrapes the surface of what all self managing will entail, and I am confident there will be lessons learned along the way that I haven't thought of yet.

Also, with the above in mind, all the markets we are targeting are either within a 3 hour radius of where we live, so getting there and back in a day would be feasible. The other markets that we are exploring, we have a connection to already, such as our hometowns where we still have a lot of family that would be willing to help out with logistics. 

I hope this helps & best of luck in your next steps!