Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2016 · 25 posts · 4 votes
I'm a newbie investor from Pittsburgh & I'm looking for my second property but am not sure in what area of Pittsburgh I want to buy (first is in the West mifflin area of Pittsburgh). I'm wondering if anyone from PA can give me an efficient way of tracking sales. I'm not an agent & cannot see sold properties on the MLS. My thought is to notate when a property goes contingent & then waiting for the allegheny co website updates with the new owner (& purchase price)- but I'm REALLY hoping there's an easier route. Thanks all!
Bellevue, WA · Member since 2017 · 2 posts · 0 votes
5y
@Heather Moore a crude but somewhat effective way is to use Zillow and Redfin’s search tools. You can use the map to search in areas you’re interested in with a filter set for “recently sold” and “within the last 7 days.” This method isn’t perfect but I’ve found it effective tracking sales in Penn Hills (out near you) and in my neighborhood where I live here in WA.
Real Estate Agent · Southington, CT · Member since 2008 · 5k+ posts · 3k+ votes
5y
@Heather Moore In our Connecticut markets the completed sales section on Zillow listings is normally pulled right from the MLS so the data is accurate and timely.
Is it the same it Pittsburgh? I am sure a local agent can provide some guidance on this post.
Property Manager · Windsor Locks, CT · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
5y
Hey @Heather Moore, have you tried reaching out to a local agent to be able to gain access to the "buyer side" of the MLS? There may be enough information through that portal that you will be able to view the things are you hoping to find.
Real Estate Agent · Cranberry Twp · Member since 2017 · 384 posts · 198 votes
5y
Hi Heather!
First I would highly recommend Austin Daniel if you decide to work with an agent. He specializes in investors and is AMAZING!
If right now you want to keep just tracking on your own, I'm a bit old fashioned, I would set up a search for an area and track all new listings and check back in on them and write down all the info as they go under contract and sell. I keep track of everything in excel (if you don't have excel you can sign up for google docs for free and there is a basic excel program in there).
I'm a newbie investor from Pittsburgh & I'm looking for my second property but am not sure in what area of Pittsburgh I want to buy (first is in the West mifflin area of Pittsburgh). I'm wondering if anyone from PA can give me an efficient way of tracking sales. I'm not an agent & cannot see sold properties on the MLS. My thought is to notate when a property goes contingent & then waiting for the allegheny co website updates with the new owner (& purchase price)- but I'm REALLY hoping there's an easier route. Thanks all!
Hi Heather! Are you looking to track all sales (i.e. mls properties listed for sale *and* off-market?) And are you looking to track all of Allegheny County? Or just certain neighborhoods or zip codes? And what about property type (i.e. SFH, duplex, triplex, 4-plex, 5-19)?
Also, do you know how you plan to use this information?
Sorry for all of the questions...but I want to understand the problem you want to solve before I throw out a suggestion. If you are going to manually track anything, you likely want to have a fairly refined area/target (e.g. SFH in West Mifflin). If you start adding too many variables, it's going to be hard to track anything manually.
Anyways, if you give me a little more info, I might have a suggestion or two to try and help out.
Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2016 · 25 posts · 4 votes
5y
@Chris Policicchio
Thank you so much for taking the time to ask further questions, definitely good questions!
I’m looking for multifamily (2-4 units) & part of my larger issue is not being able to really nail down a specific part of Pittsburgh. I’m from the East so it makes the most sense to start with where I’m familiar, but that’s my purpose for looking for this info- to find an area to hopefully find the most appreciation. I’m not as concerned about off market deals (I think that’ll get a bit overwhelming).
But my main purpose of wanting to track is both to make sure I’m getting a good price that makes sense & to nail down a more definitive area to drive for dollars, do mailings, whatever it may be.
Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2016 · 25 posts · 4 votes
5y
@Steven Sargent
That’s exactly what I plan to do- thank you so much for the insight! Can I ask what draws you to penn hills?? I’m currently looking to invest (more than likely) on the East or southern side of Pittsburgh but Penn hills makes me nervous (probably because i use to live there & have some experience in the area). Do you do single family or multi? I’m interested to hear your experience!
Gibsonia, PA · Member since 2016 · 104 posts · 31 votes
5y
@Heather Moore I'd recommend looking at additional data points, too. Looking at recently sold multifamily on Zillow is a great start and an important data point. But it can be misleading because you won't know if the properties were rented or vacant, you won't know what the market rent is, how utilities are divided and who pays for what, and what, if any, repairs were required at purchase. I think having a good idea on range of rent and potential rehab repairs are important variables. Good luck!
Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2016 · 25 posts · 4 votes
5y
@Chris Policicchio thanks for the thought- I agree with you as far as needing to factor those points into my analysis. Any idea how I could gather that info?
Gibsonia, PA · Member since 2016 · 104 posts · 31 votes
5y
@Heather Moore Sure thing! Estimating rehab will be very difficult to do without seeing a property. You can make some general assumptions (if you'd like) and ballpark estimates (e.g. estimate new roof, furnace, etc.). But unless you see the place or talk to the owner or an agent, etc, it's near impossible to know what a rehab budget might look like.
I typically use Rentometer, Zillow, and Craigslist for estimating rent. Mainly Rentometer and Craigslist. I use the free resources Rentometer provides. I like it because it gives a range of rent.
Hope that helps! Let me know if you have more questions.
Rental Property Investor · Pittsburgh · Member since 2020 · 14 posts · 3 votes
5y
If you are looking to play around with some data the below website gets updated the 1st of every month with the previous months data. It lags a little behind and might not get you what your looking for but has tons of city data on recent transactions without having to chug away 1 by 1 at the Allegheny county assessment page or drill down into the sites like zillow
Bellevue, WA · Member since 2017 · 2 posts · 0 votes
5y
@Heather Moore
I'm currently doing single family BRRRR investing, with a goal of moving into multi family. I started in Penn Hills with a partner mostly because it fit the model we were looking for - there was solid inventory from wholesalers, good numbers in terms of purchase/rehab cost to ARV, and reasonably low vacancy with good market rent rates. We felt comfortable investing there mostly because we have strong property managers and admittedly aren't from the area, so we don't really have any pre conceived notions about any neighborhood other than what numbers and our property managers tell us. We also are far from experts - I've done 3 deals in Penn Hills with a partner and been VERY loosely part of 2 additional deals, all within a couple miles of each other.
If you want more information on the types of deals we are doing out there I’d be more than happy to share!