Rental property inspection app: what to look for

What to look for

1. Offline capture. Mechanical rooms, basements and some sites have no signal. Photos and notes should save on the phone first and upload later, with nothing lost.
2. Photos and voice notes tied to the unit and room. If you have to type a name for every photo, you will stop doing it by unit 12.
3. Fast capture. The camera should open straight to the viewfinder, with one button for photos, one for talking and one tap to the next unit.
4. Findings you confirm. AI can read photos and notes and suggest a list of fixes, but you should accept, edit or reject each one.
5. Prices from a cost table, not AI guesses. A cost table by market gives each fix a range you can check. A number an AI made up cannot be checked.
6. One measured unit standing in for a floor plan, so you do not measure all 200.
7. Team walks. Several people should be able to split the units without walking the same door twice.
8. Reports for the people who need them: you, the seller and your lender.
9. Your data out. You should be able to download everything and use it in a spreadsheet.

Questions to ask before you pay

• Where do the prices come from, and can I see the range?
• Can I change what the AI suggested before it goes into a report?
• What happens with no signal?
• Can I download my photos, notes and numbers?
• What is free, and what happens when I pass the free limit?
• Is the output an estimate or an inspection? An app that is not a licensed inspector should say so.

How DoorWalk works today

1. Add a property. Enter the unit numbers, or paste a rent roll, and say what most of the units are.
2. Walk. Take photos and talk. Every photo and voice note saves to the unit and room, offline included, and you mark each unit good, needs turn or down.
3. Confirm the fixes. DoorWalk suggests a list of what needs fixing from the photos and notes. You accept, edit or reject each line.
4. Read the costs. Prices come from a cost table by market and show as a range with a confidence level, plus 10% for surprises. The markets today are the national average plus Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville and Miami.
5. Pick improvements. Each option shows its cost and a concept image of the result, and you can describe a change of your own.
6. See the deal. The summary shows returns, the loan and the highest offer from your own inputs.
7. Save reports. A buyer report, a seller report and a lender report, each saved as a PDF.
8. Ask contractors. Share one private bid package, whole scope or one trade, and compare the bids with the estimate. Contractors need no account.
9. Walk as a team, with the Team plan (coming soon): split the units between walkers with a private invite link.
10. Download everything. One download holds a spreadsheet, CSV files, a JSON file with its schema and a summary written for AI tools.

DoorWalk runs in your phone browser and can be added to your home screen, with no store download.

What it does not do

DoorWalk's output is an estimate from a visual walk. It is not a home inspection, an appraisal or a contractor bid, and it does not replace a roofer, engineer or sewer scope. Prices are ranges so that you can see the uncertainty.

What it costs

Free: 2 buildings and 10 units a month. Each property also gets 3 free concept images. Paid plans are coming soon. A property you raise money for on DoorRaise has no limit.

Before you pick any app

Walk a few units with the app on a real property before you commit. For what to look for in each unit, use the unit walk checklist, and for pricing what you find, read How to estimate renovation cost per unit. The due diligence checklist covers the documents and specialists that go with the walk.