Fannie Mae's servicing guide requires that monthly property inspections on a vacant home fall between 20 and 35 days apart, not simply once every calendar month. HUD sets a nearly identical window for FHA insured properties moving through the foreclosure and conveyance process, requiring an inspection every 25 to 35 days after the initial visit. Vacant property inspections are one of the more tightly defined requirements in property preservation, and missing the window can affect insurance claims and loan servicing compliance alike.
Those numbers come from loan servicing and FHA conveyance rules, which apply once a property sits somewhere in the default or REO pipeline. Insurance carriers often layer their own cadence on top of that baseline, and a vacant dwelling policy commonly requires weekly interior and exterior checks as a condition of coverage. Properties in colder climates tend to see the tightest schedules of all, since burst pipes and undetected water damage account for a large share of vacant property insurance claims. A property that only meets a loan servicer's 30 day minimum can still fall short of what its own insurance policy actually requires.
What the Inspection Schedule Actually Needs to Cover
A compliant schedule only helps if the inspection itself catches what matters. A proper visit checks for signs of forced entry or vandalism, confirms the HVAC and plumbing systems are behaving as expected for the season, and documents the lawn, roofline, and exterior condition with dated photographs. Interior access rules vary by state, so whoever is inspecting a vacant property needs to know the local law before stepping through the door. Every visit should be logged with a timestamp and photo set that can stand up if an insurer or investor asks for proof months later.
Properties rarely run into trouble because they're inspected too infrequently by a wide margin. More often it's a gap that opens during a transition: a change of servicer, a change of season, or a stretch where nobody owns the calendar. A pipe can freeze and go unnoticed for weeks inside a 35 day window, which is exactly the exposure a shorter winter cadence is meant to close.
Folding Inspections Into the Regular Maintenance Cycle
For a portfolio spread across multiple properties, the easiest way to hit an inspection schedule consistently is to attach it to work that's already happening. A crew cutting grass or handling an occupied unit's work order can document occupancy and condition on the same visit rather than treating inspection as a separate trip. That approach keeps the cadence from slipping and keeps the paperwork in one place instead of scattered across separate vendors.
A schedule only protects an owner if the documentation behind it can be produced on demand. The properties that come through a claim or an audit cleanly are the ones with a dated photo for every visit, not just a policy that says inspections happened.