Find first an agent or a farm area? Or, perhaps can you help me?

[Yisroel Kaufman]

Hi everyone,

I'm really trying to make sure everything makes sense before I buy my first rehab. The thing is, I can't find the right area to invest. And believe me I've tried researching ten's, if not hundreds, of cities, towns, and zip codes, but I can't seem to find an area that is good for me.

Following J Scott's advice in his book, I'm looking for a few things.
Here are my notes I took reading the book:

Farm Area is the area you will be investing.

❏ Take a small area, not more than 5 square miles with 10,000 people in the area.

❏ Distressed properties are 50% less than retail sales.

❏ 60% of properties eventually sell.

❏ How much supply in the area.

1) number of houses for sale.

2) Number of houses sold in past 30 days.

3) Divide the current list by the past list.

> It should be less than 12

❏ Should be other investors in the area.

❏ Population growth (census.gov / bls.gov), Employment growth, Household growth, Household income growth.

❏ Good place to live.

- Nice kept neighborhood,

- Neighbors know each other.

- Older "established" neighborhood, 20-30 years old.

- majority of houses are lived in by the owners as opposed to being rented out.

- Owners have lived for long periods of time.

- Has convenient consumer amenities and shopping are good.

- Commercial with residential should not be mixed.

❏ Feel the area...

- by driving around and making sure you like that location.

I tried finding those through Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia, Redfin, etc., but I realized they don’t have all the houses, and all the data I need. So I can’t make an estimate based on them.

which brings me to the decision to find a good agent first who can provide me with this info through the MLS. Actually, J recommends to find first your agent). but if I absolutely have no idea where I would start, from which area should I look for an agent???

The only hope is, that any of you will have a recommendation where to start rehabbing in New Jersey.

Best wishes!

Yisroel