Spreadsheet comparing various REI markets?

Question

Hey all, I'm a San Francisco-based investor and starting to think about my first out of state investment deal. I'm hoping to do a buy and hold investment more focused on cash flow.

However, I'm struggling to pick a REI market to focus on.

Does anyone have a spreadsheet comparing various REI markets? It would be awesome to see a market by market comparison of population growth, vacancy, price:rent ratio, economic growth, etc.

I know many people have gone through this process before, so I figured there must be a great resource on this already.

Thanks for the help!

Derek Janssen · Answer

So I did this - back of a napkin type analysis.  Here were the factors I considered:

Vacancy, Average Rent, Unemployment, Home Price (ZHVI), Tax rate, Insurance, Rent as a fraction of income, Percent Renters vs. Owners, Rent to Purchase Ratio

All these can be looked up on Google.  There are a ton of things to look at.  Also, one zip code in a city could be way different than another zip code.  Take a trip out to a few areas and take a look around.

Joe Villeneuve · Answer

Useless...at least what you are describing.  Think about this.  That spreadsheet would  have so many markets on it, in order for each market to be analyzed the way it needs to be...at micro-market level, that you would get overloaded with info.

On the other hand, you could get one that highlighted general areas/states/cities.  Also useless, since that analysis would actually have potentially 1000's of micro-markets in them...none of which would be the same, but the analysis would treat them as if they were.  Kind of like Zillow.

Don't get me wrong.  Market analysis is one of the most important things you must know how to do.  It's more important than property analysis.