@Oli C. which comes first, the chicken or the egg, the team on the ground or the property?

My owners have my personal cell and can contact me about anything at any time.

However I've been told that emails are highly preferable because they can track the IP address....anyone could pick up someone's cell phone. 

Do you think that was more like an EULA on a cell phone, just some legal mumbo jumbo you had to sign through to get things done but didn't really believe was ever a "real" potential? 

Are you trying to grow aggressively, generate cashflow or have a nest egg for your heirs? 

That being said, the process of raising investor capital is very much a chicken and egg game.  

I already live out in the country so cell service isn't great, but then they lost a number of cell towers and since internet was down just about everywhere, the cell towers were overloaded.

You Want Out of Real Estate InvestingIf you have achieved your financial goals and chosen to retire from real estate investing, you can benefit from a substantial nest egg by selling your properties.

This gives much better diversification protection across geographies, asset types, strategies, investment subclasses etc. versus putting all the eggs into one basket.The downside is that it's not for everyone, and a person has to be comfortable with turning over control to someone else.

But we have a lot of interaction with guests before they ever arrive - we require a photo ID of whomever has booked our house (and the name and info has to match the booking info), a working cell phone number that we will send a test message to by text to confirm it belongs to the guest (or is at least in their possession), and we converse with them to let them know what to expect from us (and if we have any specific concerns we share those as well) - for example, this week if we had anyone scheduled to arrive we would be discussing the incoming hurricane.