Research question - Sacramento, CA

[Evan Salvador]

Hi All, First, I'm glad I found this site.  This is obviously a great way to meet others and connect while gaining constant knowledge.  Thanks for any feedback that you Pros give a noob like me.  On to my question. I'm reading "The ABC's of Real Estate Investing" by Ken McElroy and I decided that I really need to take action and purchase my first MFR property this year.  I have been living in Roseville, CA for almost 2 years and I realize I know very little about the market here and the surrounding Sacramento Area.  My question is, what exactly do I look for when researching an area? I started reading local newspapers and business journals to get some insight of the market here.  However, it's so much info that I really don't know what I'm looking for no make sense out of it for MFR investing.  I know that Placer County has one of the lowest unemployment rates in CA.  After reading some posts, it's obvious SFRs are selling pretty fast in Roseville which leads me to believe there is demand for SFRs but I don't know what that tells me about MFR properties.  Maybe there's an opening for MFRs since SFR prices are consistently going up here(at least it seems to me) since there looks to be a low amount of inventory.   Also, I've read that the downtown area is being revitalized.   I'm trying to figure out if the Roseville downtown area is a solid place to find a MFR property (thinking triplex or fourplex for my first).  I know I should meet with local people but I'd like to get my level one research straight before I waste someone's time doing Level 2 research.  BTW, if you are an experienced RE Investor please feel free to message me to connect.   Let's see if I can add some value to an experienced investor.  

[Derek Daun]

I'm a big fan of using websites like Redfin and Trulia to learn trends of an area. Decide on a couple of areas you think you might be interested in and follow the sales religiously. After a couple of months you'll begin to see pricing trends and start getting instinctive on what are or aren't good prices. 

I think an important key is understanding what things people like. What differentiates between a house the goes pending in one week vs. two months. The biggest competitive edge you can get over the big money guys coming in from out of town is knowing your area better, and you can do this by walking around. Personally I prefer literally walking vs. driving, but my areas of interest are more urban.