You should now download and install Google Earth on your computer and look at the selection of older photos for the land you want to buy. 

This assumes the property is clean, has good photos, and is on par with other market standards.10 weeks or so of vacancy shows the listing is stale and folks just aren't interested in what you're offering at that price point.

No interior photos whatsoever.7.

There are too many photos of the same rooms from different angles - and that gets a tad exhausting. 

They have great hi-res photos to give you an idea of the competition.

Maybe next time I'll do a surprise visit but for now this works just fine for me, I don't see any outweighing advantages to the surprise visit.I gave my friend a list of about 4 things to check per property (photo or ask resident about history), 4 properties.

Are their listings detailed with good quality photos?

She wants you to read the meter, so she can see how much water is used between now and Monday when her people come (take a photo of the meter reading). 

If you saw the before photos...you would get it What was the outcome?

(https://nest.com/ )You can also set up a network attached storage device to create tenant accessible files for your property manual, appliance manuals, how to manuals (for septic systems, wood stoves, property photos, tenant lease documents contact numbers, neighbor information, shopping info, utility info etc.)