How can I check on properties from long distance?

[Brandon Alexander]

I'm a long distance real estate investor living in California and investing in FL and TN. I wish I could check in on my properties and other prospective properties quickly and easily, but that would require a 3 hour flight and several hundred dollars. I wish I could send a scout to check out the properties and send me photo updates. Does anything like this exist?

In a dream world, here’s how I envision it would work:

1. You provide the address of a property you’d like to scout.
2.  Exterior photos & video of the property are delivered to your phone within 24 hrs.
3. You get the ability to inspect and analyze the property without any travel.

Would anyone else find this valuable?  What pain points do you have with long distance investing? Thanks and I appreciate your feedback!

Brandon

[Nathan Gesner]

My recommendation is to use a Property Manager. They should be able to inspect at least once a year and provide you a report. The report could just be a quick phone call, it could be a shared folder with photo/video walk-through, or it could be a more formal report provided by property inspection like zInspector.

Don't have a property manager? Call around to the local real estate offices and offer to hire a REALTOR to do the inspection for you. Banks do this all the time by asking REALTORS to do what is called a Broker Price Opinion (BPO). I've done exterior-only inspections for lenders on homes that are facing foreclosure and the bank just wants to confirm the house is still standing and someone is living in it. I've been paid around $50 for those. For a full BPO, I will schedule an interior/exterior inspection with a list of mandatory things to inspect. I usually charge $100 - $200 for those. There are a lot of REALTORS around the country that have nothing to do and they're happy to work for 1-2 hours to put gas in their car.

If you go this route, I recommend you have very clear instructions of what you want them to do. Let's say you had a single family home that's been rented for a year and you want to know if the tenant is taking care of it. You could provide a simple inspection guide for the agent:

• Exterior photo of the front yard, back yard, side yards. Take photo from at least two different angles so I can see every section of fence, all trees, etc.
• Exterior photo of all four sides of the home. Ensure photos show every window and door.
• Note any visible signs of damage to roof: __________________________________________________________________
• When walking inside the home, please pay attention to any signs of abuse, neglect, or damage
• Do you smell any unusual odors like smoking or pets? Explain: ________________________________________________________
• Four photos of each room, to include:
  • Floor
  • Ceiling
  • Two photos of the room from two different angles so every wall is visible

I don't recommend video because they may move too fast for you to get clean shots.

You can even make it simple by giving them some scales:

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate the home overall? ________

I hope you found some of this helpful!