All Forum Posts by: Ann Watkins

Karen Margrave Agreed. Comps are but one of many tools to be used to determine whether or not to proceed. It's where I start because if there are "good and reliable" numbers it gives me a basis for which direction I proceed.

For me as an investor I primarily purchase SFR 4-2 foreclosures, in great working class neighborhoods. I've always started by running the numbers. I buy to hold so it doesn't matter so much to me the solds, as much as the cash flow.

As an agent, I take the same approach. I need to know how the local neighborhood is performing before I take a listing or agree to submit a bid for a buyer. Lol...often this tells me more about what type of client I'm going to be dealing with and if I even want to do business.

It's a waste of time to list a property priced too high because a seller refuses to give weight to the comparables. Even if I lose the listing... at the end of the day I've provided an accurate depiction of what the market will bear.

And yes, of course in the situation where there are no comps or the comparables are not recent enough other factors must be considered.

Hi Al Bunch Yes I would like to attend. Thank you.

I only went by your examples and neither of those in my opinion seemed to represent comps ..." The lot price far exceeded the local market and what the target market could afford or would pay. The real estate agent defended the price by stating the amount the developer paid for the land"

Comparables have everything to do with the local market, you indicated the price exceeded the local market. What does what the developer paid for the land have to do with comparables showing what the market would support?"

You should definitely stay away from fraudulent wholesalers and agents, and do include incompetent ones to that as well. But not all agents fall into that bunch. There's good and bad in every industry.

As a broker and an investor, I have a couple of opinions...lol. The first is that comps should come first and I think that is what you are referring to as the market. However, comps are based on numbers.

In both your examples I think the numbers were made to fit the "sell" as opposed to numbers which supported comparable sales. It does not sound like either deal had a adequate CMA performed. Had this been the case, the numbers would speak for themselves.

Anytime I'm evaluating a buy for myself as an investor or as an agent for a client investor I take that property out of the neighborhood and let the neighborhood convince me.

Too often I hear "new investors" raving about a short sale they were able to take off the market and what a great deal it is because it's in a great neighborhood and other homes sold for "X". When I ask what the rental market is like for that area, they look at me like I'm speaking a foreign language...probably because I am. They don't speak "cash flow". But...but they've purchased this great property with all this equity... to use as a rental.

If there are no recent comps that support your use of the property it's at the wrong price.

Congrats Mehran, I look forward to reading more of your posts!

Welcome Kevin Chan you'll learn a wealth of information here!

Al Bunch Thank you Al, yes please do pm me the contact. I will contact you if I have any questions. I did log on and got the free 50 addresses (Eric Tait thank you for that) I just wish I'd given then another zip code that I was really interested in...lol.

Ben Hughes Yes please keep us posted. I may join you.

Eric Tait Thanks again I did go on and look around. It seems like a wealth of information.

Eric Tait Thanks for the link. I will check it out definitely. I have to say as a Realtor it is soooo hard to ask someone else to run comps for me. My agents and I also to Broker Price Opinions for the banks and we know how in just looking at previous comps not all realtors are giving due diligence to the comps they pull.

But as we all know time is money...right?