Know Your Turf

[Robert Burns]

I've been giving a lot of thought lately as to how to more efficiently find potential deals that will be attractive to buyers. It occured to me after some reading and thinking that I really don't know where the cash sales are being made in my general area and other details that would help me identify where I should be spending my time looking for deals. So why not find out where the deals have been made and look for more deals there? I got with my excellent Realtor and she sent me all the CASH sales and Full Public Reports for those sales (258 of them)for the past 6 months. I'm making an Excel spreadsheet and capturing the following info: 1. Address/Sold Price, 2. List Price, 3. Sold $/SqFt, 4. Zip Code, 5. Close Date, 6. DOM, 7. Buyer (if listed), 8. Selling Agent, 9. Selling Agency. Obvious this will be a lot of work but "So What". After I do this I will have a tremendous grasp of my marketplace and really know what is going on. A few of the gems I will gather are:
1. Sort data by Zip Code to determine areas where most sales are being made.
2. Compare list and sold prices to understand how to make more effective offers.
3. DOM to better under how long the property is on the market and relationship to list vs. sold price and DOM.
4. Buyer info (Obviously)
5. Selling agent to see which Realtor is make the most sales and build a relationship with that Realtor.
6. Selling Agency to do the same as (5.)

I hope this idea helps some fellow investors on BP as we all "Press on Regardless"!!!!!

[Don Konipol]

I am glad to see the professionalism in the Bigger Pockets community. All the information gleamed from the above mentioned data mining can provide quite a competitive advantage. The postings here show that finding really good deals requires hard work. Too many potential investors are led to the field of real estate investing by books and websites and seminars where it is suggested that finding a under valued piece of property is easy. In my experience it takes many hours of searching, analyzing, negotiating etc. to secure a good deal. Mining data can shorten the process by indicating where to concentrate your efforts.