All Forum Posts by: Cory Land

My preference is contribute 100% of the employer match to your 401k. Choose an investment vehicle fit to your risk tolerance. If you don't have access to a low fee index fund then target funds are the way to go. If you leave the job you are at then roll over to self-directed IRA or traditional IRA. Make sure these accounts have access to the broad stock market so you can at this point choose a low fee index fund like a Vanguard S&P 500. I work for a company which reports institutional investors portfolios. They all took a hit during the financial crisis in 2008 but now have made up their losses and much more. We are in a secular bull market which can go much higher. We will have another major dip at some point in the future but as you continue to contribute while the market is low you will make up losses and more. If you are nearing retirement then you should choose a risk free investment vehicle like government or municipal bonds. Real Estate is a great way to build wealth and I am excited to continue to build my portfolio, but if your employer is willing to give you free money, I don't see how you can turn that down.

Originally posted by @Marc Boyd:

Are you using any visualization tools like Tableau?  Also, are you using any benchmarks like price per square foot or are you creating your own benchmarks?

 I am not familiar with Tableau but will definitely check it out. 

In regards to benchmarks it is hard to determine what we can define as a benchmark. Currently, I am able to get average prices in a certain area based on recent listings (I am not able to get completed sales) in respect to the sqft, BR, BA, etc. I can also determine if I am comparing against other flips in the area with the formula (if last sale date > current date - 2 years AND if 70% * listing price > last sale price).

Every market is going to be different and in the city of Philly every other block is different. Benchmarks are a powerful tool and it seems like the only national standard is the Case-Shiller Home Price Index.

I am hoping this can be the beginning of something great and I am absolutely open to ideas that can enhance this.

Originally posted by @Walt Payne:

@Cory Land  One problem is Redfin is not nationwide at this point. Zillow sucks as a source, no accuracy whatsoever.

 Yeah I did notice that about Redfin but I guess I am lucky with the area which is my market. I agree Zillow accuracy is not the best. 

Essentially I generate a report daily that will have all houses added to Redfin in the last 24 hours. This will have the stats of the house, multiple google map images, and zillow comps. If I get a list of 10 houses I can look at the report in 5 minutes or less and see if I need to contact my Realtor to look into a specific property. 

Originally posted by @Kyle Critchnau:

Software developer here. This looks like it would be a pretty easy thing to do, what would be even better is if you could figure out what the parameters were and set up several searches and criteria in one program. 

 Yeah you can have multiple saved searches on Redfin and my application does handle multiple RSS feeds. I currently do not have a need for that as I can get any house added to Redfin with my target area through one large search. (It covers like 6 counties.)

There are differences and that's why I still use the MLS through my realtor. Some of the listings that an agent adds can choose a status to which will hide them from the consumer facing sites. They do this to list to other agents for some reason. Also, I think MLS can have sales completed that were never added for the purpose to be marketed.

One of the reasons I made this application is to streamline the process for leads through last step 7 which can show google maps and zillow comps. Right now my realtor sends us the listings and then I would have to take those extra steps manually. 

Another reason is the legacy software TREND which is used in my area for PA realtors to send listings through email is old and clunky. I am able to take the normal MLS data and present it in a way which works better for me.

This is geared for anyone who is tech savy and maybe even a software engineer. This whole thing took me about 40 hours to write. I am not expecting anyone to actually do this but I am interested to see the feedback I get - techies or not. I also didn't create this to market and sell but to be able to run statistics and analytics for my own real estate investing purposes. We are in a new age and finding a competitive edge using technology is extremely important and necessary. Disclaimer: access to MLS through your licensed real estate agent will be a much better resource but this at least let's you get to play with the data. This does not update when houses are sold which sucks but I have not found any way around this 1) sign up for access to Redfin.com 2) create general search for area your market (I do city of Philly and all surrounding suburbs from $0-$500k) 3) find link for RSS feed for your saved search 4) write program to absorb the RSS feed every minute or so 5) parse MLS data and store on database 6) create front end to view data 7) optional: create notification service for your specific search criteria - mine also generates comps using zillow and google map images automatically (both sites have RESTful api which handle MLS data nicely)

My name is Cory Land. I have been a member on BP for 7 months and have thoroughly enjoyed learning about real estate investing through Josh and Brandon's podcasts (almost everyone). I have full time corporate job but have also become co-managing partner for a start up real estate business called Property One Home Services, LLC. Our business strategy is to fix and flip to build a buy and hold portfolio. (I have my own rental through becoming accidental landlord.) We have our first flip in South Philly in progress and would like to post the numbers/project after the resale is complete. We are looking to connect with other investors/lenders in the Philly and surrounding areas. I also plan to become more interactive with the forums as our business starts to take off. Excited to be apart of the community!