A claim I know of in Seattle took over two years  to process because the insurance company and the homeowner fought over the value of the property, thusly the amount of the payoff.But, I've also toured a different house that had about the same amount of damage as the photo above that was REO (owned by the bank), so that one went through foreclosure and either before the auction or after the auction someone set it on fire, I can't remember the sequence. 

Most of them invariably want to tour the inside to see if they like it well enough to apply, but is that the best method from the owner or manager's viewpoint?

My STR management partners are anecdotally telling me that the figure is nearer 40% down but that this is beacsue tour operators have choked back their forward bookings as they got over enthusiastic last year and got burned. 

When I toured the property  I could not smell smoke, only in the garage.

I have not begun to use video but I think a short video tour would work really well for a really clean rental that you want to show off.

Ready to do a Media Tour?

I'd never trust a renter to setup internet for my leak detector/sms "thingy".On my wishlist; A lock and cameras that I can tour homes for sale anytime; maybe even without realtors?

From there you can query homes with other information at your finger tips, such as show homes that are within half a mile of bus stops on bus route 12, or show homes near by dog parks, or not further than biking distance from the beach, or homes with great cell receptions for Sprint...and Google Map would pop up properties available for sale, for rent and you go can go for a virtual tour.

I can see how inexperienced first time investors got sucked into someone like this with all his one line presense and credibility.. its the same way TV flip guru's become faces for HOW to seminars.. that people pay 40k to go to.Just tell the BP crew  you spent 40k on a bus tour and see how many say that is crazy.. this is just another version of guru taken advantage of those that are just starting out. at least that's my read on it and opinion.

With my laptop in the passenger seat I started looking up the addresses of properties I was interested in and touring the neighborhoods.