All Forum Posts by: Corey Rippeto

@Cameron Tope you bet!

Yeah, he honestly just sent me an mls of properties that had either sold or we’re still active within the last 45 days. It was very obvious that he didn’t put much effort into the list he sent me.

In order to factor in those dates, I’ll push back the sale date limit. That’s fine, though. I need to get out of the habit of using only comps sold within 30-90 days!

@Patricia Steiner thanks for that! Yeah, I normally start my process of comp searching by factoring in 0.25 mile and sold within 30 days, pushing out those 2 factors up to 1 mile / 90days if need be, until I find a decent amount of properties. From there is when I account for everything else, to dial it down more. 

I suppose it would be better to just specify every factor from the start and pushing those out very incrementally instead. It does sound more tedious, but at least you know for sure that the comps are very close matches!

@Charlie MacPherson I like that checklist! I think I’ll try using that process myself to compare it to mine. All my mentors and teachers/fellow investors have always told me that they use comps sold no more within 90 days, so that’s just been a habit of mine ever since I started. And it’s worked alright for me, but that alone can thin things down fast, and the comps leftover often aren’t similar, often causing me to walk away from it. Which means, I could be leaving a potential deal behind before I even see other comps. I don’t like that one bit!
Definitely seems like you could find more “like” properties by increasing that time frame and focusing more on specs. 

Thanks for all the great answers!
I’m glad you all reached out, because now I can change my searching process to more accurately find comps and hopefully leave less deals behind. 
You guys rock! 

@Cameron Tope thanks for the response!

Yeah, guess I forgot to include that bit. Doh! 

The subject property is a 4 bed/2 bath, 1332 sqft built in 1992. 

I always try to use the most accurate specifications when using comps, but I do tend to prioritize Distance & Sale Date as the initial factors when thinning it down. If there are a significant amount of matching comps after that, then I try to narrow it down more using other factors such as sqft, bed/bath & then build date.

In this particular area, 4 bedroom houses are not so popular. Because of this, my comps consist of only: 

• 3 bed/2 - 2.5 bath
• 1100-1600 sqft
• Within 0.5 mile
• Sold within 90 days 
• Build dates being mostly between 2005-2008, but also one being 2017

Comps that the agent used ranged more extensively:

• 1 bed/1bath - 4 bed/2bath 
• 700-1700 sqft
• 1-2+ miles away
• Sold within 45 days
• Build dates from 1900-1984.

I should have included all the factors used to begin with. Sorry about that!

• Interesting.. Guess it took me coming to the forum and writing it out for someone else, for me to see just how much more accurate my comps actually are compared to the agents.. You say I should bring this to his attention then?

I'm looking at a property, and using my own comps (I use only comps within 0.5 miles and sold within 90 days) the property looks like a steal. Asking price is $119,900. ARV using my comps is $263,292.

However, using comps the agent sent me, (his comps are 1-2+ miles away and sold within 45 days) ARV using agents comps is $180,752.4.

Generally, going by what I have learned as an investor, I would say that my comps are more accurate because they're much closer to the subject property than the agents comps are. However, his have been sold more recently. Plus, I typically try to make the worst possible scenario when evaluating a property, so that everything after that is just gravy. Even using his comps, the deal seems to work.

I'm just curious, with this big of a jump in ARV, which comps/ARV would you go by?