Where to find current market info?

Question

Hey guys!

I have to say I am getting a bit overwhelmed in the learning stage. I have been jumping around the forum, reading blogs, and listening to the podcasts...it is very exciting to be learning all of this and the information on the site is amazing! But I think I am getting a little ADD here...lol.

Here is where I am stuck: I do not have a solid understanding of the market and how to determine which locations are good to invest in according to their "stages" in the cycle. I live in Orange County now but am open to investing anywhere in the southwest region.

I have access to cash and I want to get the ball rolling here! I am thinking that I want to start out with owner-occupied multifamily, buy and hold.

So, I am looking for information and resources where I can find current market information to help me in determining what location would be best to invest in and when. Something that is simple and easy to understand for a beginner would be best.

Thank you!

Paul Timmins · Answer

@Dominika M

Try the state, county and city Economic Development offices. Usually you can access from their websites reports and other info.

Search the local business journal search for housing related articles and job growth.

Loopnet acces local info from several property packages.

The local REIA clubs are also a great source.

Paul

Mary B. · Answer

The cheapest way to get into REI is via wholesaling a property. The best way to get a taste of real estate investing from the best angle as a beginner is to buy a discounted property, rehabbing it and either flipping it for immediate profit or hold it for residual income. There's a better learning curve rehabbing property.

I'm not very familiar with California's housing market but I know San Francisco and San Diego are quite pricey. If you can find a good discount MFR in one of those cities(since you don't want to invest in Anaheim I'm guessing) you shouldn't have a problem getting tenants and rent raising will be just as easy with time. With the right private lender(s) in your corner you can secure deals there.  Try privatemoneygoldmine.com on BP's main page for lenders in your market.  Find you some birddogs in the city that you want to purchase a property. There are tons all over the internet. Offer to pay for leads that you close on so they won't just be sending all kinds of addresses just to get a buck. Be very clear of what you are looking for. You can ask for old listings on the MLS to find a potential deal. Get some investors that are heavily working that market of i.e. San Diego or wherever you want to purchase to send you leads also by getting on their mailing lists. Definitely get out into the world and drive around your neighborhood and see what's sold, what's for sale, knock on some doors and chat with some owners. Build your power team. Find an investor friendly realtor or two, a real estate attorney, one or two licensed contractors etc. Close and repeat.

Kudos,

Mary

Paul Timmins · Answer

@Stephanie Lanphier

Welcome.

Locate and attend 3 different local REIA club meetings great place to meet people gather resources and info. Here you will learn about local conditions. Below are some So Cal meetings.

For market info go to IREM.org search for ARM certified property managers for <50 units, CPM certified for >50 units. call 5 ask them what parts of the city they like/dislike and why. What the market occupancy and turnover rates are. What they see props selling for per unit and what expenses are by category per unit.

You might consider Niche or Specialized Housing like student housing. Rents can be 2-4 times more. These work well in CA where prices are high. Remember you don't have to own a property to control it.

Good Luck

Paul

Southern California

Investor Clubs

(be sure to check club website for changes to date/time/venue)

Investclub for Women (Orange  County) (Iris Veneracion and Bobi Alexander)
	 Day: Third Wednesday of every month
	 Time: 6:30 networking & 7:00 meeting
	 Location: South Coast Cultural Center (9 Truman, Irvine,  CA 92620)
	 Cost:  $25 per person
	 Website: womeninvestclub.com OC Investors Club (Deborah & Misha)
	 Day:  Fourth Friday of each month
	 Time:  11:30am
	 Location: J.T. Schmid’s – The District (2415 N Park Blvd, Tustin,  CA)
	 Cost:  $25 Per person in advance, $30 at the door – lunch included
	 Website:  www.ocinvestorsclub.com SoCal REIA (Aaron Mazzrillo and Ryan Skalla)
	 Day: Second Thursday of every month
	 Time: 6:30pm networking & 7:00 meeting
	 Location: Radisson  Ontario Airport (2200 East Holt Blvd,  Ontario, CA 91761)
	 Cost:  $25 per person
	 Website:  socalreia.com San Diego Creative Investors Association (Bill Tan)
	 Day: Second Tuesday of every month
	 Time: 6:00 networking & 7:00 meeting
	 Location: Scottish Rite Center (1895 Camino del Rio South, San Diego CA, 92108)
	 Cost: $20 per person, $10 for members
	 Website:  sdcia.com North San Diego Real Estate Investors 
	 Day: Third Tuesday of every month (except December)
	 Time: 6:00 networking & 7:00 meeting
	 Location: El Camino Country Club (3203   Vista Way, Oceanside CA, 92056)
	 Cost: $20 per person
	 Website:  nsdrei.org
	 Inland Empire Investors Forum (Nick Manfredi)
	 Day: Fourth Tuesday of every month
	 Time: 6:30 networking & 7:00 meeting
	 Location: Eagle Glen Golf Club (1800   Eagle Glen Parkway, Corona, CA 92883
	 Cost: $25 per person or $195 annually
	 Website:http://ieinvestorsforum.com/
	 Orange County  Investment Club - FIBI (Joe Lahore & Reggie Lal)
	 Day:  First Tuesday of every month
	 Time:  6:00pmm
	 Location: Embassy Suites, 1325   East Dyer Rd, Santa Ana
	 Cost:  $14
	 Webiste:  http://www.meetup.com/ORANGE-COUNTY-FIBI/
	 San Diego Investment Club - FIBI (Reggie Lal)
	 Day:  First Thursday of every month
	 Time:  6:00pm
	 Location:  Del Mar Hilton, 15575 Jimmy Durante Blvd Del Mar, CA
	 Cost:  $14.00
	 Website:http://www.meetup.com/FIBI-San-Diego-Investment-Club/
	 Lady Landlords of San   Diego (Janice Bell and Jasmine Willois)
	 Day:  Fourth Thursday of every month (Third Thursday in Nov. and Dec.)
	 Time:  6:30 networking & 7:00 meeting
	 Location: Creekside Plaza Community Room (13495 Poway Road, Poway,  CA 92064)
	 Cost: $20 per person ($15 online payment)
	 Website:  http://www.meetup.com/Lady-Landlords-of-San-Diego/
	 Investors Workshops (Shawn Watkins and Angel Bronsgeest)
	 Day:  Last Wednesday of every month. (No meeting in December)
	 Time:  6:30 networking & 7:00 meeting
	 Location:  Doubletree – Orange (100 The City Drive, Orange 92868)
	 Cost:  $25 per person $ $35 per couple.  **Members free
	 Website:  investorsworkshops.com
	 Owner Financing Club (Dawn Rickabaugh)
	 An online investment clubhttp://ownerfinancingclub.com/club-membership-kaaren-hall
	 NEW!!  Investclub for Women (Los Angeles) (Iris Veneracion and Bobi Alexander)
	 Day: Third Tuesday of every month
	 Time: 6:30 networking & 7:00 meeting
	 Location: Sportsmen's Lodge  Events Center, 12833 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA
	 Cost:  $25 per person
	 Website: womeninvestclub.com

Dominika M · Answer

@Paul Timmins thanks for the info on state development offices.

Lee Marsteller · Answer

Google Delta Associates and search around for some of their free reports. They are who all the institutional investors rely on for their market data. You can find some of the data in archives from the local business journals sometimes. Also Marcus & Milchap as well as CBRE put out market data reports on A B and C properties as well. Sometimes looking at some of their listing in the area can give you some insight into you particular marketplace.

Lisa Phillips · Answer

@Stephanie Lanphier  This is interesting question. I am more intuitive with my market research rather than looking at straight vacancy rates, but what I do has been working for me pretty solidly:

1) When looking for a region to invest in, I first look at see what is keeping the economy alive for that particular city. I call them in my mind "anchors.". For instance, baltimore city is "anchored by John Hopkins, its cities largest private employer. Charlottesville, VA is "anchored" by UVA, so any property resonating with that will work. Carson City, Nevada is anchored by the state government  offices. So, a good way to choose a city is to choose a city you're at least familiar with, and see what opportunites can be leveraged there.

2) Look at prices in that area you at least know minimally

3) Check out the rents with rent consolidation websites (craigslist is one, rentometer is another)

This helped me when deciding which locations to buy in, and where to focus my searches, and this information is available online. As well as any revitalization money being thrown at an area can be found on line too. Once there, you have a good idea, in my mind, of where to start looking for houses with available market data.

As far as vacancy rate, I am a very firm believer that if you renovate it, they will come. Doesnt matter the neighborhood. It works in my neighborhoods where i purchase houses under 30k, it works for the high end home I had (although cashflow was poor). I hope this helps! :-)

Ed Wood · Answer

2-4 unit properties are a great opportunity and even though you have a bunch of cash the great part is you can leverage cash so purchase more properties with conventional financing.  Requirements will be 25% down and with units you can go higher than 417k SFR conventional loan amount here's the chart:

Duplex  - $533,850

Triplex -  $645,300

4 Unit  -   $801,950

Bonus is in LA and Orange county are considered high cost counties so you can even go higher in loan amount:

Duplex  - $800,775

Triplex -  $967,950

4 Unit  -   $1,202,925

Purchasing rental property takes more of a relationship with your agent and lender, an experienced investment property agent can provide you with tons of information you need and opportunities, and a good lender will make it happen for you.

Stephanie Lanphier · Answer

Mary, Thank you! I will begin networking and looking for connections in my area. Great advice. :)

Paul, Thank you for that information..very useful! Will look into IREM and definitely check out some of those clubs. Also, I like the idea of the student housing. I know when I attended SDSU it was very difficult as a student to find housing unless you began looking months in advance. That would definitely be a good thing for an investor. :)

Ali, thank you! love the idea of getting a team together..trying to do this on my own is a bit much. I am talking in general which markets are good for investing in at this time. With regards to your advice of picking a market to invest in, that is where I am stuck because I have been told a lot of different things about SoCal but I have an overall impression that it is not a good market to invest in right now. I know there are so many factors to take into consideration so maybe I am wrong in making that assumption?

Ali Boone · Answer

Hey! I'm not far from you, up in LA (Venice).

When you say market info, are you talking about more generically, like what markets are good for investing in right now, or are you talking more specifically like wanting crime stats and all that?

In general, I'd say the advice for a beginner in terms of how to get started (since you already know kind of what type of investment you want) would be to do either of these 2 things first: pick a market to invest in and find a team to help. You can do those in any order because sometimes if you meet a good team, you will be willing to change where you invest. Or, if you pick a market, you can look for a team then. Those are the two things I would do first because any details after that should stay after that so you don't get confused.

Dominika M · Answer

Hi all,
i'm having the same problem with getting good market information for western NY (or NY state).
What's a reliable organization that puts out free market info on the residential rental market? (Vacancy rates, rental housing outlook, rental prices, etc).

In Ontario, the house and mortgage corporation (http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/hoficlincl/homain/stda/) puts out these beautiful reports for different housing markets that compare:  prices of new houses, resale houses, unemployment, average rent for 2 bedroom, vacancy rates, and give economy info.  The methodology is the same, so you can really compare apples to apples across Canadian markets.  Beautiful.

Dominika

Where to find current market info?

Most Popular Reply