All Forum Posts by: Bobby Thompson

@Colin Smith

Thanks for the heads up, Colin. I'll ask around to see if Massachusetts and Rhode Island MLS has some sort of API or downloadable report. Looking for good areas to start a buy and hold farm that have the potential for appreciation (not banking on it). It turns out that the HUD Homes site has a pretty good data set..

@Doug N.

Love the Seattle area. Homes are just as pricey as Massachusetts though. My best friend lives in Ballard. Really cool area. I will drink a Starbucks coffee (poison) with you if you promise to have an Dunkies iced coffee with me when you're in Boston. 

@Mark Ryan@William Allen@Trevor Ewen@Edward B.

Thanks for taking the time to respond! I appreciate you for your insight and advice. 

Hey Folks, Data nerd here. Looking for as many publicly available (free) real estate data sets as I can get my hands on. I'm also interested in curated reports or data that may be related to the real estate market (Commercial info, sales in other markets, jobs reports, retail store locations). I'm currently working on merging or overlaying home value, rent, school ratings, state census info for fun. I'd love to take advantage of larger companies marketing and planning. I bet a company like Whole Foods is pretty sure an area is going to grow in population and/or income before they drop a new location.

Let me know if you're aware of any data sets like the ones I mentioned above. What do you use to do your research?      

@Michael Badin

@Doug N. @Joe Fairless

Thanks for the warm welcome. I am very much a data nerd. Most of my work is in C# and Sql with a couple of plugins to display the information on a map. Honestly, I'm more interested in the process of data modeling than the visualization but I need to learn more about the GIS tools out there. I'm currently working on a process to merge some home value and rent information with the state's census report and the local school districts rating system. Hoping I can identify some trends, specifically areas with low but increasing population/average income coupled with improving education and decreasing joblessness. Ill keep you posted. 

@Mike Hurney Is my 10 year timeline too conservative? I'm too new to know if that's a ridiculous goal.. 

I appreciate you your help. Thanks for the advice. 

@Account Closed

Hey Bp!

      Need a little help. I grew up in a working class town in southern Massachusetts. It wasn't a terrible location during the late 90's to early 00's but the job market isn't as good as it once was and the area has been plagued by drugs and drug violence. I moved away long ago but my family is still in the area. 

      I have a close family member that fell on hard times about 5 years ago but has made an amazing recovery. They separated from the community that was dragging them down, got sober, and they have had steady employment for the last 4 years. Like many lower income recovering individuals, they're not in the great financial shape and their credit is shot. They have saved up a good amount of money for a down payment and they have a decent reserve. I want to help them get into a house but I want to protect my finances. 

    I realize this is more of an investment in a relationship than real estate. I'm not really looking for financial gain from this deal. Is there a safe way to provide financial assistance without incurring significant risk? I'll probably supplement their offer even if there is no way to limit my risk. Has anyone had a similar experience?  What did you do to help?

Hey BP, I'd like to start off by saying thank you to all of the active duty and retired military investors on BP. I greatly appreciate your service and admire your commitment to ensuring our safety and way of life. I'm proud to call myself a military brat. My parents met in the military over 30 years ago and retired after 20 years. Mom was a rescue diver and Dad was a drug interdiction chief. We traveled all over creation and met so many great people with diverse backgrounds. I pursued an appointment to the Naval Academy but was disqualified from all service due to a (silly) medical technicality but the military has still had a profound positive impact on my life.  

My parents recently asked me to look into some real estate investment options to supplement their pensions. I saw a sign the other day that advertising 0% down benefits for veterans and active duty military personnel. I was wondering if the BP community knew of any special programs at the federal or state (Massachusetts) level that help members of the military purchase homes. Do those programs extend to investment properties or owner occupied multi-families? If you've taken advantage of one of those programs, I'd love to hear about your experience. 

Hey Tony, Welcome to the site. Good to see a fellow investor from Massachusetts. I was in Franklin the other day. I was looking at properties in the Upton/westborough area and took a scenic route through Franklin on the way home. Beautiful town. Lots of good schools in that area. Have you been to any of the REIAs or meet ups in the area? I've had mixed success finding a good group outside of 128. Hope we can connect. Good luck!