Market Research - Data Sources

[Sasha Josephs]

Hiya folks,

Anyone out there know of data sources to use when performing market research on a new potential real estate market to invest in?

Here are some that come to mind:

1. Municipal websites and the news for upcoming projects/employers in a local area

2. Census for employment/population data

3. Housing starts construction data (where to get this data at a local level?)

4. Zillow, Redfin and the like for historical real estate sales data

5. Craigslist for rental data

6. Driving a neighborhood and attending open houses

What else am I missing, if anything?

Sasha

[Frank Wong]

Hi Sasha,

Are you looking for a market out of state?   Honestly picking a market is not that hard and going through that list is actually overcomplicating it. 

Picking a market is like 20% of investing. Having a process to analyze, find, and buy rentals is 80%.   Focus on what matters the 80%.  20% is not that important.