If you feel ready for additional rental property for your investment portfolio, you may be thinking about buying in a market far from where you live. There are a number of reasons to do so, especially if you know a certain market is ideal for owning a rental home in Peachtree Corners. You might even be considering purchasing your new rental property sight unseen. After all, many rental property investors who do it don’t have any problems. However, buying a rental property sight-unseen does have a few potential pitfalls that you’ll want to avoid. Here are what some real estate experts say about how to acquire your next profitable rental property sight unseen.
Get a good real estate agent.
The most critical part to successfully buying a property sight unseen is hiring the right real estate agent. The best one is one who knows the local market, has expertise in the type of property you want to buy, and is willing to send you detailed information about each listing. To make sure you will be hiring the right person, ask for references, check their experience, and conduct interviews. As you will be working closely with this person, it is important that you find a good fit.
Ask the right questions.
Regardless of whether you plan to tour the listed property or not, you need to ask a lot of questions and collect as much information as you can. This is especially true if you won’t be able to see certain things for yourself on-site. For instance, your real estate agent could provide you with a floor plan or even just the dimensions and rough layout of the property. You should also ask about the visible condition of the property and things like sounds and smells. These are things you won’t see in a photo.
Research the area.
Aside from learning the details about the property itself, it is also good to know as much as you can about the potential neighborhood. A great place to start is by using Google Earth and Google Maps to see the property’s street. You can also ask your real estate agent for a walking tour of the area in a video tour of the house so you can get a grasp of the surroundings.
Request video tours at different times of the day.
A good way to learn a lot about a potential property is to look at it several times at different times of the day. A property may seem to sit in a serene neighborhood lot in the morning but is actually surrounded by rowdy neighbors, late-night train sounds, or other nuisances that happen at night that your daytime tour would miss. A lot of things are different at daylight and at nighttime.
Enlist friends and family to help.
If you happen to know someone living near the rental property you want to buy, it would help if you ask them to tour the property and drive around the neighborhood in your place. The second set of eyes never hurts, and they could also reveal details that your real estate agent missed (or didn’t want to report). As a resident, they can also give a better sense of how the different parts of town and the property’s neighborhood feel.
Get an appraisal and a home inspection.
Finally, you have to insist on a professional appraisal and home inspection. While many lenders require both as part of the financing process, you should still schedule a professional inspection even if it isn’t required. Inspections and appraisals alert you to any number of issues, from serious structural problems with the property itself to other elements that may have a significant impact on your property’s value. These are important to know before you commit to the purchase.
Of course, one of the best ways to buy a property sight unseen is to purchase one that Real Property Management Greenway manages. Our Peachtree Corners property management experts know every detail of the property and can often help you find off-market deals before they’re even listed. To learn more, contact us online.
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