When investing remotely you are taking on a little extra risk but you are also paying extra in fees for someone to do the extra small things that you would be able to do if you were local, i.e. walk through a property and analyze the area, review construction to make sure it is being done and to your standards.

If you can take care of that, the money will transfer within X days and you can get your money plus and extra X amount for helping.

If you're adding a bathroom, however, it might make sense to get the plans.

Also, maybe add something to the lease such as:"Any repairs due to tenant abuse or negligence which must be done immediately will be added to the next month's rent as 'additional rent.' 

@Joanna Lenn as you can see from the comments here something isn't adding up. 

the only way you can refi if you can force appreciation by adding a room for example.

Do you ever pay your GCs extra when they get it done on time or early?

If you have been around NOLA long, there is a reason you dont see many small (3-8 unit) new developments, they just cant be justified.On the triplex I wanted to build, it was ~2800ft2, and the sprinker system alone was $26k (thats $9.29/ft2), and that is just one example of the added costs.What I do is find infill lots that can support decent rents and build new duplex units. 

I then type 2-4 unitsUpon adding the units to the search my Count goes to 0I have tried Geography - I have selected 13 different zip codesProperty - I select Unit- Number of.

My current apartment is AWESOME, but freeing up that extra cash might be a more logical/prudent first step.Looking for some thoughts/guidance from the community.