How important is market analysis to you?

[Francisco Espinoza]

Let's compare investing in a market you don't understand to a person in a room being instructed to throw a dart at a target, but the lights are turned off, they are spun 10 times and they are told to throw the dart and hit the board. I have tried it and it's very very hard, I would even go as far as to say it is impossible.

When I started investing I knew what I wanted to do, but I had no idea where to start or why. I would always hear people say "if you don't know your market, then you don't know anything" and at the time I didn't understand how true that was. I started looking for properties in my backyard in Houston, TX and even though this helped me get more familiar with my neighborhood it really limited my potential, which took me a while to figure out. I was getting frustrated and started to think that this is probably not for me, I couldn't find ANYTHING!!

I went back to the drawing board and started looking at what made investors successful and even though knowing the different strategies and having the right contracts and the right partners in place to make deals happen, my biggest concern was "where am I going to find these deals that everyone, but me, are finding." at least that is what it felt like.

As I dug in more I noticed a trend and it was simple, know your market!

So, that is what I did. I began looking for information, reading books, watching podcasts, videos on youtube, reading articles and asking questions to the more experienced investors. Soon, I started to find out that in order for me to be successful I needed to know the data and numbers that indicated and projected markets, prices, movement, cycles etc.

Six months later and even to this day, I continue to learn the indicators, the data, the trends, the appreciation rates, the median price points, the median family income, the DOMs, the heat pockets, the neighborhoods classifications, the demographics and the many other pieces of information that will dictate where you need to invest and how. Just a heads up, this information changes constantly. It's not a coincidence that those who "WIN" are those who understand how to play the "GAME" not only that, but they understand what influences the "RULES" to winning.

My advice is "LEARN THE DATA" understand why it's important and how it all intertwines. 

If you have any questions,let me know.

Tell me about your experiences with Market Analysis.