I'm visiting for the holidays so would love to do a coffee chat if anyone is up for it! 

However, if you feel you need their input earlier, you could offer to pay for their visit to walk the property with you pre-inspection.

I generally recommend if you're not going to buy a property in the city/market where you currently live, the next best place to look is where you have family (and presumably a place that you'll visit relatively often and easily).What is your price point and are you looking for turn-key properties or something along the lines of a "fixer upper", assuming you buy in Peoria or a similar priced Midwest market?

Visiting over Xmas with family.  

So I used to work for a basketball tournament that played in Washington IL every year and so I often visited that town plus Peoria.

And after their visit, more than 48 of those detergent pods "disappeared".

If you still feel like you want to do it at least go visit their current rental to see what it looks like. 

Quote from @Collin Hays: I visit fairly often with investors looking at a certain vacation rental property to make an offer on.  

Tom, when you're looking for a REALTOR, visit homes.com. 

A contact of mine has been thriving with STR investments in suburban Chicago, targeting guests visiting for conferences.