Landscape stones would work, if you were in my neck of the woods I might suggest a nice decorative barrel cactus, but I don't think that would work in WV, even a small tree may be a significant enough deterrent.

Cameras are a great deterrent and will help you catch someone if they try something.I would be concerned about safety of my tenants and liability when I rent that home to someone else.

The pic throws the visual off because there is 70 years of caulking  (built 1948) at those joints.  

If I lived in an area hostile to landlords or a place with a voracious appetite for tax dollars I'd certainly consider investing outside my home area (actually I'd probably consider moving), but I think it would be hard owning property that I can't work on, see, or visually inspect easily. 

As long as you have a process, it goes pretty quick.I go through a house and do a quick visual inspection to identify specific issues I want to document.

Sometimes we even stake the corners of the projects so that they can visually see what is going on.

I love to work with my hands and am a very visual person,I also have owned a 4 unit apartment complex since I was 20 (owner occupied 15yr fixed loan) and that has been the highlight of my 20's so far!

Foundation issues have been a deterrent for me.

@Henri Meli Thanks for the feedback,Re: Street view, it will only give a visual.

At list at closing. do you have a visual diagram of this exercise ?