Rental Property Investor · San Francisco · Member since 2017 · 39 posts · 8 votes
Even though I've bought several rental properties over the years, I always feel like an amateur when I first look at a deal and try to pull comps. It feels like manually comparing it to other properties in the area on Zillow or via the MLS is inefficient, prone to missing certain details, or cumbersome to scroll up and down numerous pages.
How does everyone else go about pulling comps? Is there a strategy you always use when analyzing a new deal? Do you have some template you follow or spreadsheet of columns you always fill out to run particular calculations? Or do you have a way to quickly filter out a lot of properties before taking a closer, manual look at each
Being a software engineer, I'm itching to write code to help myself more efficiently pull comps and run more advanced analyses. But I'd love to know what everyone else's pain points have been to see if I built such a software, it would have value to anyone else here.
Look at who the agents are that are listing flips. If you start to see one that is listing several, grab coffee with them and interview them to see if you get a warm fuzzy about their process and how they work with investors. That's the best way to go.
Even as a software engineer, I would really be careful with writing code to come up with your ARV (As Repaired Value). Zillow does that and they are often not close. It's really hard to get the system to recognize that there are attributes of one property that might not apply to the one across the street. For instance, one might back up to a navigable canal where you can dock a boat while the house across the street might back up to another neighbor. That will have a major impact on relative value. We are lucky in that we also have an in-house real estate practice, so we have the MLS. I know BP is big on DIYing it, but if you can find a real estate agent that really, really knows investing, then they are worth engaging. That being said, those agents are unicorns and we are really lucky to have one, but having a great, experienced agent that also knows investing is worth the 2.5% they get for selling a property. Just my 2 cents.
@Doug Smith That makes a ton of sense. It sounds like you've found a rare talent among real estate agents. Is that person the main resource you use to pull comps and analyze a deal?
Assuming that person retired and you no longer had access to them, considering what you've learned from them over the years, how would you DIY when analyzing a deal if you couldn't feel an equally competent RE agent?
@Doug Smith That makes a ton of sense. It sounds like you've found a rare talent among real estate agents. Is that person the main resource you use to pull comps and analyze a deal?
Assuming that person retired and you no longer had access to them, considering what you've learned from them over the years, how would you DIY when analyzing a deal if you couldn't feel an equally competent RE agent?
Easy...I married her (lol). I also have a real estate license and MLS access, so doing it myself is not an issue.
@Doug Smith Haha nice! How would you recommend I find a similarly competent agent? I don't know where RE agents hang out in general. I only ever talk with them when I'm in the process of closing on a new rental, and I haven't had the best experience with most agents I've worked with. I find myself oftentimes doing a lot of the work I would've expected from them. Even worse, some given overly optimistic reassurances that would've caused more issues had I taken them at face value.
Look at who the agents are that are listing flips. If you start to see one that is listing several, grab coffee with them and interview them to see if you get a warm fuzzy about their process and how they work with investors. That's the best way to go.
My area has many sales so I look on Zillow. If a home went pending within a week or two, that home probability went for asking price or above. So I can get a good feel just by looking on Zillow for 5 minutes for current home sales and recently sold homes on their site. It’s not perfect, but will put you pretty close to most comps as long as there are plenty of homes for sale and recently sold homes in your area.
Even though I've bought several rental properties over the years, I always feel like an amateur when I first look at a deal and try to pull comps. It feels like manually comparing it to other properties in the area on Zillow or via the MLS is inefficient, prone to missing certain details, or cumbersome to scroll up and down numerous pages.
How does everyone else go about pulling comps? Is there a strategy you always use when analyzing a new deal? Do you have some template you follow or spreadsheet of columns you always fill out to run particular calculations? Or do you have a way to quickly filter out a lot of properties before taking a closer, manual look at each
Being a software engineer, I'm itching to write code to help myself more efficiently pull comps and run more advanced analyses. But I'd love to know what everyone else's pain points have been to see if I built such a software, it would have value to anyone else here.
I've used the Compass Website which has a great collections tool where you can filter and see everything in one place. They do not show sold comps which is annoying!
@Owen Boller I'm curious why Compass if they don't show sold comps? Or do you pull in comps data from elsewhere and use the collections tool to aggregate and analyze information?
I looked on https://www.compass.com/ but didn't find the tool. Could you share a link to it here? I'd love to give it a try!