Is showing a rental home with WiFi smart locks and webcams a bad idea?

[Steve Tokita]

I am an out-of-state investor living 1500 miles away from three properties that I am currently renovating to rent or to flip.  I am considering the pros/cons of doing this without a property manager or real estate agent.  It is a bad idea to screen and then show homes with a smart lock code that I can change?  If I use inside webcams, ring cams, and smart locks, is this a possible way to show homes to prospective renters or buyers? What do you think?  

[Jay Hinrichs]

Quote from @Kevin Sobilo:

@Steve Tokita, a couple things to consider:

1. Yes, I some landlords are taking that kind of approach and it may be working for them, BUT a broken clock works for me twice a day! Just because it has worked doesn't mean there aren't downsides and risks.

2. There have been news reports all over about squatters. Once they are in the property, you run the risk of them squatting the place. You might be able to mitigate that with the webcams, BUT if the webcams stop working will you call the police and notify them that your webcams stopped working? I doubt that is a call they want to act on.

3. When you say that you will "screen" prior to showing, does that mean a full application with backrgound and credit checks? If so, that could lose you some good tenants.

A good tenant is someone who works hard to have more choices in life. If some landlords are requiring them to pay application fees before they even know they want a rental versus ones that don't which do you think they will choose. They may look at 10-15 rentals and if applying ahead is required they might be spending a full months rent on applications and not like any of the places.

4. Have you investigated any local rental ordinances? Some places (including my own market) require an out of area owner to use a local property manager. They want someone who is physically local that can be responsible for issues that come up.

If you are required to hire a property manager anyways, might as well just pay them to do the tenant placement. 

U do that in Jackson MS and your house will be stripped of everything and anything of value full stop.