How do YOU Screen for your Markets (specifically out of state)

[Isaiah J Aragon]

Hello BP Community,

I wanted to ask everyone how they conduct market research, what you're processes are, and how you go about filtering all 50 states, to exclude states from your research and how you choose states(cities) or areas of interest to take a deep dive in.

Ex. The way I've narrowed it down is by:

• Gathering data from all 50 states (population growth, median income, crime, price-to-rent, etc.)
• Filter out states that have rent laws
• Filter out blue states (not because of political beliefs but from my understanding they have less rules and regulation and I believe that in the current climate we're in with COVID and all people are going to flock to areas that don't have as much regulation)
• Highlight states that people retire in more than others
• Because of short-term rental becoming a trending way to invest, filter out states that impose regulation/rules against short-term rentals using platforms like Air BNB, etc.
• Also, using ZILLOW, I type in my parameters (homes under $125,000, sqft. > 1000, 2bd+/1bth+, made 1950+) and I see where there's more volume in specific states (like Texas or Ohio for example); with this parameter I can exclude quiet a few states because I dont see any hardly volume on Zillow given my parameters above. 
• Take natural disasters into account (more hesitant to invest in areas were theres lots of hurricanes, tornados, fires, etc.)
• CURRENTLY, i've weeded it down to about 20 states 

Im curious to know how others conduct their research to build strong bias for a specific market. (Basically, if someone asks you why you choose this state to invest in out of state, there's more to it than "Its a HOT market, blah blah blah.")

Please feel free to reach out an message me or comment. 

Isaiah A.