Paying for work 2k miles away

[Shawn DiMartile]

I'm buying my first out of state rental property this year and have read David Greene's "Long Distance Real Estate Investing" book several times. He covers most everything I can ask to get started, but one of the questions I'm still a bit fuzzy/uncertain of is paying contractors for work when I'm 2,000 miles away from them. Now, in David's book he recommends getting the contractors bank account information so you can send money directly to them. I feel like I'd have a hard time getting a contractor who's never worked with me to give me that information when I'm on the phone on the other side of the country. I'd probably sound like a Nigerian Prince promising to give him money. I figure I could alternatively give the contractor my credit card information so they could maybe punch the numbers into a "Square" or other CC processing software if they have it. I'm not sure but I keep thinking this is going to be an issue with various stores and contractors I attempt to do business with. 

Have any of you experienced many problems with this? What seems to be the way you typically handle it?