Remote real estate investors - how do you due diligence out of state properties
Cresskill, NJ · Member since 2016 · 1 post · 3 votes
Remote real estate investors - how do you due diligence out of state properties
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Jimmy LieuBusiness Member
Real Estate Agent · Columbus, OH · Member since 2019 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votesQuote from @David Chung:
To all remote real estate investors purchasing outside of where you live - when you find some interesting properties online and the numbers (rent comps, taxes) seem to work out, what do you do next? Do you travel there to view?
Basically how do you “verify” the condition of the property that’s not close to where you live?
Jimmy Lieu, Red 1 Realty4.9120 Reviews
12 Replies
- 1moArman AhmedPro MemberReal Estate Agent · Columbus Cleveland Dayton, OH · Member since 2024 · 2k+ posts · 913 votes
Quote from @David Chung:
To all remote real estate investors purchasing outside of where you live - when you find some interesting properties online and the numbers (rent comps, taxes) seem to work out, what do you do next? Do you travel there to view?
Basically how do you “verify” the condition of the property that’s not close to where you live?
A strong boots-on-the-ground team makes all the difference. Plenty of investors successfully buy out of state without seeing every property in person. I’d want a trusted agent, contractor, inspector, and property manager giving me honest feedback, along with detailed photos, videos, and repair estimates. - 1moJimmy LieuBusiness MemberReal Estate Agent · Columbus, OH · Member since 2019 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votesGreat question! I invest remotely as well, and I almost never travel just to look at a property before getting it under contract. First I'll underwrite the deal, then if it still makes sense I'll have my agent do a detailed video walkthrough while looking closely at the big-ticket items like the roof, foundation, HVAC, plumbing, and electrical. If it gets past that stage, I rely heavily on the inspection period. A good inspector will usually uncover far more than I would during a quick visit anyway. I'll also ask for lots of photos, videos, utility history if available, and sometimes contractor opinions if I know the property will need work. I only travel if it's a larger purchase or if something about the deal doesn't add up. Building a team you trust is really what makes remote investing possible. Happy to connect and answer any questions you have!
Quote from @David Chung:
To all remote real estate investors purchasing outside of where you live - when you find some interesting properties online and the numbers (rent comps, taxes) seem to work out, what do you do next? Do you travel there to view?
Basically how do you “verify” the condition of the property that’s not close to where you live?
Jimmy Lieu, Red 1 Realty4.9120 Reviews - 1moSamuel DioufBusiness MemberReal Estate Agent · Columbus & Cleveland, OH · Member since 2023 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
Hey David, I work with a ton of investors that are out-of-state. The only way to operate successfully is having a coordinated team that can handle everything on the ground.
If it's a good deal you'll want to either get you're contractor out there soon as possible or lock up it up and then do your due-diligence during the contingency periods. If it's turnkey and vacant you can have your agent go take a look at the property and get detailed video walkthroughs too.
If you have to book a flight and see the property before making an offer you'll end up losing a lot of deals by moving too slow and waisting a lot of time to the point where it wouldn't be worth it.
Reafco - Samuel Diouf528 Reviews - 1moJames JonesPro MemberInvestor · Collierville, TN 38017 · Member since 2017 · 593 posts · 445 votes
David, let me give you the view from the other side of the table — I'm a Memphis operator who's been selling to and working with out-of-state buyers since 2003, so I know exactly what separates the buyers who get burned from the ones who don't. The agents above are right about team + video walkthroughs + inspection, but here's what nobody said: verify INDEPENDENTLY of whoever is selling you the deal. The single biggest mistake remote buyers make is letting the seller's (or wholesaler's, or turnkey provider's) people do all the verifying. Hire your own inspector — one YOU found, not one anybody referred — because a $400-500 inspection is the cheapest insurance in this business. Pull the permit history on the property (most cities have it online) to see if that "new roof" was actually permitted. Ask for the age of the big five in writing: roof, HVAC, water heater, electrical panel, plumbing type — and if the answer is vague, that's your answer. Get scope-of-work docs with before/during/after photos on any recent rehab, not just glamour shots. And screen-share a live video call, not a pre-recorded walkthrough — you steer the camera, you pick what to zoom on. Do all that and you genuinely don't need to fly out for most single-family buys. The flight is for verifying the TEAM, not the house — worth doing once per market, not once per property.
- Real Estate Broker · New York, NY · Member since 2020 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes1mo
Hey David,
You can actually do most of the due diligence remotely if you have the right people in place. First, I’d have a local agent walk through it on video and show me everything, not just the pretty parts of the house. I’d want to see the mechanicals, basement/crawlspace, roof, electrical panel, plumbing, etc. Then I’d get a thorough inspection and, if there are any major issues, bring in the appropriate contractor for a second opinion.
I’d also verify the rental side independently. Look at what similar properties are actually renting for, how long they’re sitting on the market, and what the tenant pool looks like. The numbers can look great on Zillow and still fall apart once you start digging.
I think the bigger challenge with out-of-state investing is that you’re not just underwriting a property, you’re underwriting your team. If you have a good agent, inspector, contractor and property manager on the ground, you can be surprisingly hands-off.
Hope you find a great one! Feel free to reach out anytime if I can be a resource.
- Member since 2023 · 27 posts · 5 votes1mo
Hi David,
Short answer: you don't verify condition before you make an offer. You buy the right to verify it.
Before you make an offer, you only do the work that's free, because most properties die at this stage and you don't want to have paid for the privilege. Pull the taxes from the county rather than the listing, get a real insurance quote instead of a rule of thumb, and call two or three property managers in that market to ask what those units actually rent for. Almost every answer you get in this business is an opinion rather than a fact, so stack three of them and look for the pattern rather than taking the first one as gospel.
Photos won't tell you condition, and neither will a plane ticket, so don't try to solve condition thoroughly at this stage. Write the offer with an inspection period, because that period is the thing you're actually buying, and you are never allowed to skip it. Once you're under contract you have two clean ways out: walk and recover your earnest money, or renegotiate the price. Outwardly the reason is always "there's more wrong with the property than we thought," which on a fixer is almost always true anyway.
Then you verify the physical condition, and you do it in cost order so you're not spending money to learn something a free step would have told you.
Start with a video walkthrough from your agent or a property manager, and ask them to narrate it and actually open things: basement, electrical panel, water heater, roof line from the yard, every unit. It costs you nothing but a favor and it will kill a fair number of properties before you ever pay for an inspection. Also having them notice things that might be a pest issue (mice droppings, roaches, etc.) can help you narrate the story of the building as well.
If the property survives that, hire the inspector, and hire a good one. Look for ASHI certification, ask how many multifamily properties they've done in that market, and ask for a sample report before you hire them. You'll get a wildly different level of detail from an ASHI inspector who does this all day than from whoever your agent likes best. Read the entire report rather than the summary page, then hand that report to every contractor bidding the work, because a GC walks a property to scope renovation and not to test every outlet and system. You can also use AI now to help you understand your report and ask questions - this does not mean to not read it yourself though. When you don't give them the inspection, the inspector's findings come back later as change orders on your dime.
Get bids from at least two contractors on the same scope, in writing. Two contractors reading the same report will land thousands apart, and that spread tells you something about both the property and the contractors. Then renegotiate off the report line by line rather than asking the seller for a vague reduction.
Two things at the finish line that matter more than anything above. Verify wire instructions by phone with the title company before you send a dollar, every single time, even when the PDF looks like it came straight from them, because people lose six figures to intercepted email and there's nobody to go chase. And if the property is supposed to be delivered vacant and broom clean, have your agent confirm with their own eyes that it is, and that it's in the same condition it was at inspection, before you release funds. Your money is the last piece of leverage you have, so don't hand it over before you've used it.
On traveling: I'd fly out to build a team rather than to look at a house, and I do not do that either. Nobody has to attend a closing in person either, so if a title rep tells you otherwise, they've simply never done a remote closing. Let them know you can hire a mobile notary and they can overnight the docs, and you can send them back. Sometimes certain types of transactions allow docusign, and sometimes the title company will require they secure the notary locally to you. So make sure that your Agent knows in the beginning that you are a remote investor.
What's your target market, and do you have an inspector lined up yet?
- 99217 · Member since 2023 · 1 post · 0 votes1mo
Wow, Thats really good. I've been searching for an explanation like this for a while. thank you for the question and this response.
- Member since 2023 · 27 posts · 5 votes1mo
Quote from @Russell Mcpherson:
Wow, Thats really good. I've been searching for an explanation like this for a while. thank you for the question and this response.
My pleasure! My goal in life is to help people avoid the pitfalls I went through. Over the past 20 years, I have made a lot of painful and costly mistakes...
- 1moAlicia SierraBusiness MemberReal Estate Agent · Saint Louis, MO · Member since 2015 · 132 posts · 70 votes
We work with remote investors almost exclusively here in the St Louis MO market. The due diligence begins with extremely detailed video walk throughs that include giving context on the location, and looking for any and all red flags. If we move onto the inspection stage we include minimally a sewer lateral inspection, building and roof, and infrared moisture detection to find water problems that are not making an appearance yet. We also support the estimate process, include a key box exchange and facilitate the transfer to property management. Bottom line - working with a realtor who is an investor working for investors is key. After that, strongly vetting property management and anticipate being very involved while you stabilize your properties.
Alicia Sierra - EXP REALTY4.953 Reviews - Real Estate Agent · Chicago, IL · Member since 2017 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes1mo
I have a lot of out of state clients. Step 1 we run the numbers make sure it looks good at face value and I help clients with this when they ask what to put for variables per a neighborhood, then if looks good we set up a video tour where myself or my teammate walks them through with a video chat, then we run comps for price and how high can get rents and offer. I have a few trusted contractors I give out to clients once they are contingent in case want quotes but I hold those contacts tightly and only give them once contingent. Makes for a nice team where a contractor does not waste time and also wont do a client bad because then they would lose a lot of referrals. Having the good contractor contacts is really the most important part. I work north side chicago where the tenants are class A and many people even self manage with a handyman and leasing agent from out of state. Even if choose to use managers, you want good repair contacts to shop rates for the bigger ticket items.
- 1moDrew SygitBusiness MemberProperty Manager · Royal Oak, MI · Member since 2012 · 12k+ posts · 9k+ votes
Quote from @David Chung:
To all remote real estate investors purchasing outside of where you live - when you find some interesting properties online and the numbers (rent comps, taxes) seem to work out, what do you do next? Do you travel there to view?
Basically how do you “verify” the condition of the property that’s not close to where you live?
Two basic strategies:
1) Hire someone, which costs $$$
2) Try to find someone naive enough to do it for free in hopes you will hire them to assist with the purchase or management.
You'll be better off if you focus on ONE market and establish a team there you can rely on.
Logical Property Management4.9451 Reviews - San Juan Puerto Rico · Member since 2026 · 7 posts · 1 vote1mo
Great question, and one every remote investor has to solve eventually.
My approach: I don't travel to view a property before it's under contract either — by the time you're flying out just to "take a look," you've usually already spent more than the deal justifies if it falls through. Instead:
- Underwrite the numbers first. If the deal doesn't work on paper with rent comps and expenses, condition doesn't matter yet.
- Get eyes on it locally before you're emotionally invested. A detailed video walkthrough (not just listing photos) from someone who knows what to look for — roof, foundation, HVAC age, plumbing, electrical panel — catches most red flags before you spend a dime on inspections.
- Lean hard on the inspection period. A licensed inspector will find more in two hours than most of us would find in a weekend visit anyway.
- Pull public records remotely — tax history, permit history, any liens — before you ever get attached to a property. This catches problems no walkthrough will show you.
The real unlock for remote investing isn't travel, it's having someone on the ground you actually trust to be your eyes and flag what a listing photo won't show you.
I do exactly this full-time for investors buying in Puerto Rico specifically — comps, rental projections, title/tax history, and contractor coordination for anyone who can't be on the island in person. PR adds a layer most people don't think about (CRIM tax history can be messy, and title issues are more common than on the mainland), so remote verification matters even more here than in a typical mainland market. Happy to share more if anyone's looking at PR specifically.
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