Removing the uncertainty on "days on market"

[Wayne Igo]

An obvious big "gotcha" is an unexpectedly long time before a buyer comes along, taking a huge chunk from profit potential.   Initial asking price is of course a major controlling factor.  I'm looking for some techniques that have been used successfully to minimize the likelihood of this happening.  Currently, I am using sources like Zillow to simply count listings, sales and rents over various time periods (e.g. 2 months).  The idea here is to get a handle on supply and demand in the target area over the past x months.  Any input would be much appreciated.  I tend to work top-down.  I don't won't to spend time in an area finding that great buy that won't move because of economic or other factors.  Too bad we don't have a resource that provides a macro economic comparison or ranking by zip code on such things as house sale turn-over, prices, trends, job growth, population growth and inventory levels for things like lots, new homes, etc.