How do you determine if an area is mostly owner/renter occupied?

Question

Hello! I'm trying to research Baltimore neighborhoods for a farm areas for my first flip. Can someone tell me how to determine whether an area is predominantly owner occupied or renter occupied? It seems like the neighborhood make-up will make a big difference on the ability to sell the house to a homeowner versus investor, and the ability to rent it if I cannot sell it. I'm leaning toward selling to a homeowner because that is familiar to me.

George F. · Answer

2 websites I can think of besides the usuals are:Baltimore city water bill lookup-just put street names in without the numerical address. There you should see a listing of the addresses along with billing address. The more you see that the billing address is different increases the likelihood of renters.Baltimore housing -search for violations by street name. This can be temperamental so you may have to try a few times. Here you would see violations, houses marked as vacant as well an manager/owner info by viewing violations.Ive also used comcast or verizons service signup and calling bge to figure out how many units a smaller multifamily has. I know thats off topic but have found it a useful way to get onfo that most people don't think of.

Jeff K. · Answer

MD tax assessor site is http://sdat.resiusa.org/RealProperty/Pages/default.aspx and then enter your criteria for searching homes. You can search blocks in city or county, or previous sales on a street etc..if you search by street name look for an H or an N in the line of the chart for each property which will tell you if it is a homeowner or not. Good Luck!

Angela DeBorja · Answer

You guys are awesome. Thanks for all the ideas. I love the rollerblades technique @Alex Franks. I may have to dust mine off! lol. So to review, for anyone reading this thread and for my notes, to look for how many properties are owner-occupied or renter occupied in an area: (additional comments are much appreciated) 1.) review census data (although info may be dated)2), Baltimore City water bill look up- put in street names without the street numbers. The billing addresses that are different from the property address are likely renters.3) Baltimore Housing: Search violations by street name. May have to try a few times. Look for "Violations" or houses marked as "vacant", or "Manager/owner info" by viewing violations. 4) Comcast/verizon service sign up. I'm assuming if the billing address is different, then it may be be renter? 5) Call BGE to see how many units a smaller multifamily unit has. 6) County assessor- put in street name and see which properties addresses have different tax billing addresses? 7) GIS map- compare tax billing addresses to local addresses. 8) Sit with/ask property management companies. 9) Ask at REIA meeetings.

Matt F. · Answer

Hi @Angela DeBorja, you could just pick the neighborhood on your favorite site and then search for sale, versus for rent in that area - that will give you a pretty good idea. You could also review census data (which enumerates that specific metric explicitly, although the data is older).

Account Closed · Answer

Why is that information important to you.I would rather think about cash flow and equity.Don't get bogged down with useless statsGo out and drive the neighborhoods and look for businessMake offersRun ads.Make it a game; your score card is how many offers you made this week, how many acceptances and how much in potential cash flow or equity.Play the game, have fun, win some, be kind and smile all the time.

Angela DeBorja · Answer

Your points make sense Charles Parrish. My question comes from what I read in J. Scott's "The Book on Flipping Houses" pg 71 where he writes (as part of large set of general guidelines only) that it is better to have an area where "the majority of houses are lived in by the owners as opposed to being rented out. Owners tend to take better care of their houses than tenants do, and neighborhoods with lots of owner occupants tend to be closer knit." I'm thinking I can use this skill to research specific streets of desirable neighborhoods I come across during my driving around. It would be only a part of my analysis of course.

Angela DeBorja · Answer

Thank you @Jeff K.!

Walker Clark · Answer

Trulia has a rent vs own layer. Not sure where the data is pulled from or how accurate it is. The suggestions above are all good though! Walker

Alex Franks · Answer

That's actually good question and you are correct. In the long run rentals and a retnal area very hard to sell for retail price. For me it was buying and learning the areas. I spoke with property Mangement companies. I actually went and sat with 7 different companies way back when. That gave me a good idea of what was going on. Next step go to the local real estate meeting. Jump up and ask questions. Explain in detail what you want to accomplish. Which areas to stay away from that are predominantly rental areas. A lot of the folks at the meeting will help answer those questions.Now for funny story, but a True story . I told this before when I was speaking. I put on roller blades 16 years ago. I was 26 years old learning an area. I was zipping around putting flyers on Mail Boxes ( don't do that now ) I had pad and pen and was talking to the folks living in the area. Took me a few hours to skate all 10 bocks ( small town Rock Hill SC ) and I was farming one area. By the end of the week, I could basically tell you every thing about that area.So farming ( funny term ) is also a key. Becoming that expert in that certain area.Alex Again bare with my seplling, and grammar.

Eugene Kemp · Answer

If there is a good GIS map in place at the county level, you can search tax records and compare tax billing addresses to local address snd figure it out that way. Takes a bit of sleuthing, but i've done it and it works well