If you’re looking to add a new rental property to your investment portfolio, you may be seriously considering buying in a market at a distance from where you live. There are some very solid reasons for doing this, primarily if you determine that a certain market is ideal for owning a rental home in Batesville. You may even be tempted to purchase your new rental property sight unseen. Cause really, plenty of rental property investors do, and it can work out pretty well. However, buying a rental property sight-unseen does have a few potential pitfalls that you’ll wish to avoid. To help you acquire your next profitable rental property sight unseen, here are some of the top effective tips given by real estate experts.
Get a good real estate agent.
The most important thing you can implement to successfully buy a property sight unseen is hiring the right real estate agent. There simply is no substitute for identifying and working with someone who perceives and intimately understands the local market, has expertise in the type of property you want to buy, and is able to send you detailed information about each listing. To be sure you hire the right person, ask for references, assess their experience, and carry out interviews. You’ll be working closely with this person, so getting a good fit is seriously important!
Ask the right questions.
Whether you plan to tour a listed property or not, you need to ask a lot of questions and gather as much information as you can. This is primarily correct if you can’t be on-site to see certain things for yourself. For instance, you should have your real estate agent send you a floor plan or, if one isn’t available, the dimensions and rough layout of the property. Likewise, make sure to ask about the real condition of the property and things like sounds and smells. These are things that a photo will not be able to convey.
Research the area.
Not only do you need to know as many details about the property as possible, but you’ll furthermore want to have an idea, about the potential new neighborhood. A great way to begin is by utilizing Google Earth and Google Maps to view the property’s street. You might, moreover, ask your real estate agent to include a walking tour of the area in a video tour of the house so that you can get a better sense of the surroundings.
Request video tours at different times of the day.
Really, one of the best and ideal ways to learn a lot about a potential property is to look at it several times, at different times of the day. A property may have the appearance of being on a serene neighborhood lot in the morning, only to discover that there are noisy neighbors, late-night train sounds, or other nuisances occurring after dark that your daytime tour would have missed. Things can seem to be very different in the daylight than they do once the sun goes down.
Enlist friends and family to help.
If you happen to know quite well anyone dwelling near the rental property you want to buy, try asking them to tour the property and drive around the neighborhood in your place. A second set of eyes never hurts, and they may find things that your real estate agent missed (or didn’t want to report). As a resident, they can additionally grant you a better picture of the characteristics of different parts of town and the property’s neighborhood.
Get an appraisal and a home inspection.
One last point, you clearly should have a professional appraisal and home inspection done. Conceding that various lenders require both as part of the financing process, you should still set up a professional inspection even if it isn’t required. The inspection and appraisal can caution and warn you of any number of hidden issues, from serious structural problems with the property itself to parts that may substantially impact your property’s value. These are things you need to identify well before committing to the purchase.
Of course, one of the best ways to buy a property sight unseen is to purchase one that Real Property Management Delta manages. Our Batesville 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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