Short Due Diligence Periods

[Zach DeRossette]

I am looking for a rental property (SFH) in the Atlanta area and most sellers want a very short due diligence period. In order to be competitive with my offers, I usually ask for a 4-5 DD period. I'm on the west coast, so I'm doing everything remotely. The problem I'm running into is if there is an issue in the inspection report, there is no time to get a specialist out to investigate the problems further. I was just in contract on a promising house, but the due diligence period expired before I could get someone out to look at the foundation which had a stair step crack. The previous house I was in contract fell through due to a foundation issue as well.

How do people handle this problem? The market is so competitive that someone else will take the house if I pass on it. I’m fine taking on some risks, but I know foundation issues can get extremely costly.