Such need to be held long term, in time the appreciation is stolen or you do the rinse and repeat.

For example the appliances and fixtures they purchased were getting stolen.

This one is vacant and needs about $1300 in repairs, including replacing the stolen water tank, but I only paid 5k for it on a land contract with only 1k down, 3% interest on balance, and my guy says it will be ready and rented in about a week.I don't tell you all this to scare you but rather to stress that, in my opinion, having a quality manager is key to having success in an out of state situation.

The first one said, "No problem, we'll put a hold on the account until you get home and can let us know what check numbers were stolen."

Just remember everything the state has is stolen.

One of the houses has bullet holes inside, copper stolen, littered with hypodermic needles, etc..  

Your contractors should have their own policies that cover damaged/stolen materials throughout the construction process, but if somebody vandalizes the building or injures themselves on the property, you would be open to liability or cost of repairs.Hope that helps!

(this is a nationwide phenomenon though), yet vacant homes up here also get the aluminum sideing ripped off, furnace, hot water heater stolen etc. and then it's sold for scrap or whatever?

This may be a case of stolen identity to commit these fraudulent transactions.

Steve Babiak In that case, you would need to run it all the way to the panel or to the water meter.I bought an old house last year where all of the copper had been stolen.