Newbie with real estate data questions!

[Zalen Moore]

Hey, everyone i’m new to investing and the forums but, i’ve been trying to devour as much RE information as I can. While I enjoy reading the books, i’m Trying to learn more about analyzing information. Both a property and investing in an area (city, county, state). 

My questions is  how do you get information of an area you’re planning to invest in, how do you compile it and the factors that lead you to choose to (or not) in an area? Also how often are you right with your investments, if it’s a good place to invest in or not? Thanks folks!

[Angelo Van]

I'm new too and I'm very interested in hearing the answer to the question as well. I guess you can download market reports in your area which are often available for free. There are several indiciators to look for, employment, income, prime yields, some ratio's, vacancy, etc. There must be a heck of a lot more and better determinants. For example for FINLAND (i had an exchange period there I study real estate) we used the KTI a lot during our projects. They offer benchmarks, research and analysis services. There must be something similar for your region. Of course it can be helpful to go to your national statistics agency they often offer interactive maps with demographics as well as income levels and crime statistics.