What visible distress signals should I record while driving for dollars?

A field note is useful when a second driver could stand at the same curb and agree with it. "Front lawn knee high, two front windows boarded" passes that test. "Vacant" is a conclusion about who lives in the house, and a boarded window only shows that someone secured an opening.

The difference shows up later, at a desk. Suppose the records turn up a tenant. A note that says "abandoned" is now wrong, and you can't tell what the driver saw. A note that says "mailbox full, four papers on the driveway" is still true, and it still explains why the house made the list.

Counts and measures belong in the note for the same reason. Two boarded windows on the first visit and four on the next is a change you can read in the notes. "Looks rough" on both visits tells you nothing about which way the house is going.

PropertyRadar's guide also tells drivers to notice toys in the yard, vehicles in the driveway and porch decorations. A boarded window with two cars in the driveway at 6:40 p.m. is a different house from a boarded window with none, and the note should let a reader tell them apart. Cars and toys still don't tell you whether the person inside is the owner, since a tenant produces the same scene.

We'd add two signs the guide doesn't list: a dumpster or contractor sign, and a for-sale sign. Either one means somebody is already acting on the property. That could be the owner, a new buyer or an agent, so write down what you saw and settle who it is from the sale and listing history.

If a resident or a neighbor talks to you, the guide says to record that as well. Write it as their statement: "Neighbor at 416 says the house has been empty since spring." It is a lead on vacancy, and it stays labeled as something you were told.

Suppose a driver stops at 412 Elm St at 6:40 p.m. on October 9. The lawn is knee high, two front windows are boarded and the mailbox is full. There are no cars in the driveway and no lights on. A neighbor at 416 says the house has been empty since spring.

The finished note reads: "412 Elm St. Oct 9, 6:40 p.m. Lawn knee high, 2 front windows boarded, mailbox full. No vehicles, no lights. Neighbor at 416 says empty since spring. 3 photos. Next: records lookup."

Someone who wasn't in the car can act on that note. The address was read off the house and matched to the property on the map. The date and time are the ones the driver was at the curb. Each signal is a phrase a photo backs up. The neighbor's statement is labeled as a statement, and the note ends with one next action. Add the parcel number when your tool shows one, because it still identifies the property if the street address was typed wrong.

PropertyRadar's guide asks for at least one photo of every property and short bulleted notes, which you can dictate at the curb. In PropertyRadar's mobile app, both attach to the property record. You open the property from the map, add photos in the Photos section and add the note in the Notes section. The app dates the note when you save it, so a note typed in later needs the observation date and time written into it. Add to List puts the house on a static list for that drive, and it works the same way for a house that wasn't on your route. A Status on the property profile records the step that comes next, such as contacting the owner or researching title, and it notifies other members of the account.

The app can also record a GPS Track of the drive on the Solo, Team and Business plans. A track shows which streets you covered. It doesn't show which houses you looked at, so the notes and photos remain the record of what was inspected. If more than one person drives, agree on the wording along with your territory assignments, so every driver hands back notes that can be compared.

Every note should end in a next action, and it helps to agree on the rule before the drive. Here is one we'd start with. Two or more signals on one house, or any posted notice, get a records lookup. A single signal that could change within a month, such as an overgrown yard, gets a revisit in about 30 days and a second photo from the same spot. A dumpster or a for-sale sign gets a look at the sale and listing history, and then you decide whether the house still fits what you buy. Adjust the thresholds as your own results come in.

The records lookup adds context to the street note, and each field has a limit. PropertyRadar's criteria glossary describes Site Vacant as a flag from the US Postal Service. Its vacancy guide gives short-term rentals as one reason an occupied property gets flagged, and says you will likely have to confirm vacancy with more research. The flag and a full mailbox can both come from the same undelivered mail, so treat them as one indication. A different kind of evidence, such as the neighbor's statement or a later visit, adds more.

Owner Occupied is true when the owner claims the property as a primary residence or the owner's address matches the property address. A "no" doesn't tell you who lives in the house. It does tell you the first letter should go to the owner's mailing address. Property Tax Delinquent is accurate as of the last tax status update, so a payment made since then isn't shown. In Foreclosure covers three stages: preforeclosure, auction and bank owned.

A tax delinquency, a preforeclosure or a scheduled auction adds a recorded obligation to what you saw from the curb, and that is a good reason to move a house up your list. Bank owned means the lender now holds title, which changes who you would contact. The street informs the record as well. PropertyRadar's guide tells drivers to compare what they see with the property data and correct the record where the street disagrees with it.

A posted notice gets its lookup at the county. Hillsborough County, Florida, for example, lets you search code cases by street address or folio number, and the results can include the case status, the violation description and inspection dates. That gets you the violation without a step onto the property. The search returns past cases as well as open ones, so match the case address and dates to the notice you photographed before you treat them as the same matter.

When a house is ready for a letter or a call, what to verify before contacting an off-market owner covers the checks that come first.