How do you learn your market?

[Jason Stoltzfus]

I am new to real estate and everyone says you need to study your market and learn your market, but I don’t know how to do that or where to start.

[Ryan Blake]

First step is to determine your strategy (buy and hold, fix and flip, owner financing) and then the ARV you want for each project. After that I would use zillow, mls, redfin, etc. to find areas that will fit your investing price range. I would look up the city's development site and see where new development or public dollars are going.

Once you get that info, find about 10 neighborhoods, go out and drive them and reduce the number down to about 2-4. Look for listing agents that have a few listings in that area and contact them. They will be able to bring you good listings, maybe even pocket listings, and keep you up to date on what is going on in the neighborhood. I would check rents and sales prices for homes that are fully renovated and days on market.

From this point I would keep getting infor where ever I can but I would also start making offers on MLS properties or sending out direct mail to at least the homes that are in distress.

Hope this helps. Are you looking for yourself or do you have a client you are looking for?