Good afternoon! Today I am going to give a few tips about assessing the location of a potential property that you are looking to buy and a few things I like to look at! These are in no particular order I suppose but all good items to look at when you are trying to understand a market well (especially for the first time!)

1.) Master Plan for City- This one is awesome! Most towns/cities have a master plan for the aspects/areas of the city that they are actively focusing their efforts on, and are pretty thorough with specific plans for carrying out those efforts with estimated timelines etc. Sometimes there are LITERALLY MAPS on the sections being revitalized… Reading through these documents gives you a TON of insight… it’s basically insider trading but COMPLETELY LEGAL my friends…. USE YOUR RESOURCES!

2.) Market Rents for City- I talk about these a decent amount lol. I like to use a mix of the 2024 HUD Fair Market Rents, MLS previously rented units w/ pictures to see what type of tenant expectation aligns with the rent price, AND Rentometer.com to get a bunch of data on a new market. I personally like to use 3 different resources to get a good sense of what rents ACTUALLY trade for in a new market :)!

3.) Market Data- I like to personally look for top employers in that market & how many employees they have, look at trailing population growth and the direction it has gone, the population itself if it is an tertiary market, job growth, median area income, etc. These I find through US Census.gov data, City-data.com , and other free sites I can get my hands on lol.

4.) Neighborhood Scout Crime Map- I like this one too. You want to have a “deeper” (I’ll leave it at that 😉) understanding of a market you are considering investing in, especially if you are planning to owner occupy for a little while. The numbers may look great on paper, but if there could be a larger threat to your safety than you bargained for, websites like neighborhoodscout.com can help you navigate that dynamic before learning the hard way!

What other resources do you like to look at when assessing a new market? COMMENT BELOW YALL!

Boston, Massachusetts

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