Remote Investing: How to know if the property is in good shape?

Nashville, Tennessee
General Real Estate Investing
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Remote Investing: How to know if the property is in good shape?

Brad Brazier
Nashville, TN · Member since 2016 · 6 posts · 1 vote

If I'm wanting to buy a property on the other side of the country, how I can find out if the property needs a lot of repairs or is in good shape? Do I need to hire an inspector to check it out and also would someone selling their house just let me send an inspector over to check it out, I'm not sure what the common practice is in this situation, thanks in advance for any help! 

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Nathan GesnerBusiness Member
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Real Estate Broker · Cody, WY · Member since 2010 · 28k+ posts · 41k+ votes
4y
Quote from @Brad Brazier:

If I'm wanting to buy a property on the other side of the country, how I can find out if the property needs a lot of repairs or is in good shape? Do I need to hire an inspector to check it out and also would someone selling their house just let me send an inspector over to check it out, I'm not sure what the common practice is in this situation, thanks in advance for any help! 


Yes, you will need someone to put eyes on the property. I recommend you read "Long-Distance Real Estate Investing" by David Greene. He goes deep on this with very practical advice on how to build your team, how to use your team members to cross-check each other's work, etc. For example, you could have a REALTOR find you the deal, but you'll use a Property Manager to confirm the property will work as a rental. The Property Manager may say it needs $5,000 in cosmetic updates, but your contractor may look at it and discover bigger problems that could cost you $50,000.

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  • Nathan GesnerBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Real Estate Broker · Cody, WY · Member since 2010 · 28k+ posts · 41k+ votes
    4y
    Quote from @Brad Brazier:

    If I'm wanting to buy a property on the other side of the country, how I can find out if the property needs a lot of repairs or is in good shape? Do I need to hire an inspector to check it out and also would someone selling their house just let me send an inspector over to check it out, I'm not sure what the common practice is in this situation, thanks in advance for any help! 


    Yes, you will need someone to put eyes on the property. I recommend you read "Long-Distance Real Estate Investing" by David Greene. He goes deep on this with very practical advice on how to build your team, how to use your team members to cross-check each other's work, etc. For example, you could have a REALTOR find you the deal, but you'll use a Property Manager to confirm the property will work as a rental. The Property Manager may say it needs $5,000 in cosmetic updates, but your contractor may look at it and discover bigger problems that could cost you $50,000.

    The DIY Landlord Book4.7245 Reviews
    WebsiteView Page
    1Reply
  • Brad Brazier
    OP
    Nashville, TN · Member since 2016 · 6 posts · 1 vote
    4y

    Great Advice, thank you for that! I will check that book out 

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  • Account Closed
    Real Estate Agent · Frankin, TN · Member since 2022 · 10 posts · 6 votes
    4y
    Quote from @Brad Brazier:

    If I'm wanting to buy a property on the other side of the country, how I can find out if the property needs a lot of repairs or is in good shape? Do I need to hire an inspector to check it out and also would someone selling their house just let me send an inspector over to check it out, I'm not sure what the common practice is in this situation, thanks in advance for any help! 

    The Core 4 from David Greene's book is definitely super helpful. 
    We just acquired a rental property sight unseen. What gave me the confident for the purchase was I had a trusted realtor who did a live video tour of the property for us. In the offer, we also had pass or fail inspection so if there was anything wrong that would cost too much for us to fix, we still could back out the deal.
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  • Jacob H.
    Rental Property Investor · Orlando, FL · Member since 2018 · 64 posts · 54 votes
    4y

    We've bought a couple of properties across the country now and are under contract for another right now. We've made some mistakes and learned hard lessons. How you do it really depends on the type of property you're looking at, the location, and if it's competing in the crazy hot market like many cities right now.

    You'll want to find a good realtor and get them on your team. This realtor schedules a time to walk through the property and does a live video stream or records and sends it to you for an initial look. If it sucks, you back out. If it's good, you continue to the next step of putting under contract. During this time you are in the due diligence period. Make sure the contract dd period is long enough for you to schedule and review the inspection report from a licensed inspector and is long enough for you to travel there to look at it in person. (If the market is crazy hot, you can always put it under contract first, then have the realtor do the initial walkthrough, followed by the inspection and your own personal visit).

    Why does the dd period need to be long enough for all of this? So you can get your earnest deposit back if you decide you want to back out of the purchase due to major issues with the property, or you just don't like the look in person. You could also try to negotiate repairs with the seller.

    Regardless, you need to see it in person before you purchase it. Trust me. Videos don't do full justice and inspectors breeze over things like cosmetics, in many cases. If you don't see it in person yourself, you're taking a bit of a gamble.

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