I am reading how to estimate rehab costs and I understand that it is important to have the real estate agent and contractor walk through the property together in order to get an idea of how much the rehab will be so I can accurately come up with an offer. ( I would be doing long distance REI). In this book it talks about so many things that need to be inspected including the septic system and to have septic specialist come out and look at it for you. I feel like before you even purchase the house you will be in it for hundreds of dollars before you even know if you will make an offer. What do you do for long distance investing in a rehab property and who do you have look at the property? And what do they look at?
Real Estate Investor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 694 votes
7y
All of these inspections will happen after you make your offer.
Your offer will be based on basic visual inspection after walking through the property (sometimes with a contractor if one is willing to do this with you), and making some assumptions based on clues that the property will tell you. Your offer will be contingent based on satisfactory due diligence to verify that that you have built in enough budget to repair the property.
For remote walkthroughs I use a program called ecamm call recorder and I record a facetime conversation I have of the realtor walking through the property and narrating what they're seeing. The recording helps me refer back to parts of the walkthrough while estimating the job.
Developer · Charlottesville, VA · Member since 2018 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes
7y
@Ayanna McClintic the upfront inspection costs are just the risk you need to be willing to take. If you find major defects or costly repair items you can always renegotiate.
The realtor will handle lining up all inspections as this is part of their job. I would not rely on them for cost estimates for repairs unless they are very knowledgeable.