If you’re looking forward to adding a new rental property to your investment portfolio, you may be taking into consideration buying in a market at a distance from where you live. There are plenty of reasons for doing that, most especially if you have an idea that a certain market is ideal for owning a rental home in Bedford County. You may even be tempted to purchase your new rental property sight unseen. Nevertheless, numerous rental property investors do, and it can work out perfectly well. But to be honest, buying a rental property sight-unseen does have a few potential pitfalls that you’ll desire to avoid. To help you purchase your next profitable rental property sight unseen, here are a few of the top guides shared by real estate experts.
Get a good real estate agent.
The most important thing you can do to successfully buy a property sight unseen is hiring the right real estate agent. There simply is no substitute for closely working with someone who knows very well the local market, has expertise in the type of property you want to buy and is open and willing to send you detailed information about each listing. To see to it that you hire the right person, ask for references, find out their experience, and hold full interviews. You’ll be working closely with this person, so determining a good fit is highly significant!
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 likely can. This is precisely true 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. In addition, ensure to ask about the visible state of the property and things like sounds and smells. These are things that a photo will not entirely convey.
Research the area.
Not only do you want details about the property, but you’ll similarly want to determine as much as you can about the potential new neighborhood. One perfect place to begin is by making use of Google Earth and Google Maps to view the property’s street. You might furthermore 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.
Definitely, one of the most efficient ways to learn a lot about a potential property is to look at it several times, at different times of the day. The property may create the impression of being on a serene neighborhood lot in the morning, only to see that there are loud neighbors, late-night train sounds, or other nuisances occurring after dark that your daytime tour would have missed. Things can present as being very different in the daylight than they do once the sun goes down.
Enlist friends and family to help.
If you happen to be acquainted with anyone living right near the rental property you want to buy, think about asking them to tour the property and drive the neighborhood in your place. A second set of eyes never hurts, and they may identify factors that your real estate agent missed (or didn’t want to report). As a resident, they can moreover offer you a better understanding of the characteristics of different parts of town and the property’s neighborhood.
Get an appraisal and a home inspection.
Lastly, you definitely should have a professional appraisal and home inspection done. Despite the fact that a lot of lenders require both as part of the financing process, you should still line up a professional inspection even if it isn’t required. The inspection and appraisal can tell you about any number of complexities and issues, from serious structural problems with the property itself to details that may extremely impact your property’s value. These are things you need to ascertain before you ever decide on 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 Cairn manages. Our Bedford County 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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