Researching Your Market

[Jacob Plocinski]

I’ve decided on some basic criteria to filter potential properties in my market. Thanks to The Millionaire Real Estate Investor, awesome book! I’ve now started to actively track and research my market. I’m pretty good with databases so I’m in the process of developing one for local rent rates and one for local properties. I like building systems and the idea of scaling in the future is also enticing. I’m in a smaller market in Central Pa and the bigger websites (Trulia, Zillow, etc.) offer decent information; however, not specific enough for my tastes. I’ve committed one day each weekend to walk/drive my prospective neighborhoods as well as network with local real estate agents/investors.

The next big step for me is to start walking through properties that fit my criteria. My question: When you were getting to know your market what tips/tricks seemed to work best for you? Is there some type of information you tracked that helped in your specific market? Any and all suggestions are welcome. Thanks for taking the time to read this and best of luck!

[JD Martin]

1. Get out and about. Walk/drive the streets. How do you feel on the street? Do you want to roll up the windows and lock the door? Do you want to linger looking at the houses? Do people stare at you suspiciously or wave?

2. Track every house in the price range you are considering. If you are looking at houses between $100-1,000,000, you are going to have a lot of groundwork. For me, for example, I generally do not consider any houses in my market for more than $100k, as it doesn't fit my framework for buy/rehab/rent. I also have a specific geographic area within my market that I look at. Then I keep tabs on every house in that criteria, whether I am interested in buying it or not. After a while, you will start to see trends - what sits on the market forever, what sells in a day, what is over/underpriced.

3. Get, and talk to, a good realtor - either a partner/part owner of a successful brokerage or a realtor that is moving a lot of property that fits your criteria. They should be able to tell you what has and has not been selling. This is easier to do if you use them once in a while to purchase property - you don't have to buy everything through them (i.e. private seller, auction, etc), but forming relationships will get you inside knowledge.