Hello, The housing market in my local market is pretty hot right now and finding an investment property has been a challenge. So, I have been looking in other areas of the country (USA). I have been talking with a turn-key wholesaler who brings "everything". Investment, lender, contractor, property manager, etc. Pretty much sign off on the lending and you have an investment. My fear is I sign paper on a property that doesn't exist, the contractor charges $50,000 in rehab charges on a property that didn't need anything. Or the property manager has a history of stealing client rents to support her drug habit. How do you vet the people you need helping you when you're hundreds or even thousands of miles away?

Good question, regarding if the house exists.  I'd have a Realtor go there to see it. Maybe pay her $50.

Perhaps have her take pictures of the outside and inside.  

Do your best due diligence long distance and then fly out there before you hire anyone and the first several deals followed by the big deals and bi-annual or quarterly random checkups.  

You might look into larger companies such as Chris Clothier with Memphis Invest and Dallas Invest. He has been around a long time.

The prices may or may not be what you are looking for. Some investors chase cheaper properties sub 50k and buy from afar. Make sure you visit the areas and investigate the property and do research on the company. Any rehab should have pictures showing each step.

People that tend to be true and authentic hide nothing. Those that make up reasons why they can't show this and that tend to hide behind smoke and mirrors.

Investing in real estate is a relationship business more than anything. Nothing ever goes perfect but generally it is the integrity of the company and person that matters in times like that.  

@RJ Emmett I do it all the time. I just signed an offer on a 37 unit self storage facility. It's 3,000 miles away. I've never met any body involved. How do I know it exists?? Google earth, and the legal description on the tax acessor's web site matches the one on the offer. You could see the for sale sign on google earth. It's not on the MLS currently but it was 6 months ago. I got a copy of the old listing. The name on the offer matched the name on the tax roles. How do I know my earnest money is safe? The realtor doesn't hold it. The tittle company will. I have used this tittle company before so I know it's legit. I requested that company for that reason. I met the realtor through a referral from another realtor in another town. I didn't know him either. He knew the realtor I normally deal with there though. It's all contingent on my viewing the property in sept. The closing is in November. I can get out anytime between the acceptance date and the end of October. I met the realtor on Monday. I signed the offer on Thursday. Before I signed the offer I knew all the bills and expenses associated with this property and had hard verified numbers for these. the taxes, and insurance cost, lites, water were all hard verified numbers. I have talked probably 4 hrs total with the realtor. The only thing left to do is verify the rents, the amount the manager charges and meet the manager. I'll do this in person. My accountant will examine the books and income taxes for this property. My lawyer will examine the leases and promissory note and deed of trust. My earnest money comes back to me if I reject any of the above. Normally I start with the PM. Any realtor will do sort of. You only deal with them during the buy and maybe sell if they do a good job. The Pm is the key element. Vet them first. Vet them hard. This person has the keys to your car. You deal with them as long as you own the property. For this reason my offer is contingent on me approving the Current PM. I can guarantee you this property exists and I have an offer in on it. There can be no shenanigans by the realtor, the seller, or by me either. In short I own this deal and can exit anytime until a week or two before closing in November. All it takes is a little time and willingness to make some calls. Oh yea I can tell you about the town, the mine the power plant,and the hunting fishing. The average income, the market (which just started to recover there) and on and on. I have maybe 12 hrs of research on this thing. RR

Fly out and build your team with face to face meetings. 

A lot of good advice in posts above. The reality is nonmatter where you invest there is some small element of risk. Meeting people face to face is great but doesn't preclude them from being dishonest or incompetent. However you might feel better meeting your team face to face. In the end you have to take a small risk. Good luck. 

A lot of the larger companies offer longer track records but you might be paying 110% market value. Use an appraisal to check this and don't buy cash. I would talk to other investors.

Afternooon, I always recommend visiting the areas you plan to invest in to get a feel for what the city, neighborhoods and streets look like.  Some cities do change street by street.

When looking at an area and house that you are not familiar with you could find an agent or someone from the site here and pay them a few dollars to talk to them and have them go by the house first.  I almost always get a property inspection done and ask the inspector to take extra photos of the home while he is there.  I haven't had any issues with them not wanting to take photos as long as you clearly tell them what you want the photos of.  Ie, front, sides, back of the house from the fence line and photos of every room.

It's a relationship business and you have to build the rapport first with someone real in the place you consider to invest.

You'll need a representative anyway, I'd start from a real estate agent and then move to the next level.

The agent must be into this kind of business though. Not many agents will go around and send you the pictures of a listing for $50. These who sell $5M houses not going to answer the phone or email for such request.

You can also try, Wegolook.com

They will take pictures inside and out for you.  It may not be $50.  Probably closer to $60.

Either way, there are plenty of people that are not super stars that will do this.  Think maybe a beginning agent!

Haha. Fair questions, and great wording! :) 

There's honestly very little that you can't verify about a property purchase, even from a distance. When you say a "turnkey wholesaler", are you talking about a turnkey provider/company or a wholesaler who offers turnkey properties? That will severely sway my response.

I've always bought turnkeys long-distance (from a company, not an individual) and there's lots of ways to do due diligence on everything being advertised. Happy to help you on that.

@Ali Boone  I've been talking to two different companies in Memphis and Dallas.  They bring everything.  I use the term "turn-key" because I bring the risk/responsibility and they bring the opportunity.  Can you tell me which companies you've used in the past?  

Any horror/success stories with these companies?

Be careful about these 'one stop shop' situations in a market you know nothing about. There are a lot of shady characters in this space... I've bumped into a few over the years. They are usually monetizing the transaction 4-6 ways, all at your disadvantage.