Day 2:What I did: 1) I create an analytics spreadsheet to make offering on properties a little easierCost: $0Total Cost: $0Education: I am now through podcast 43 on the BP podcast and I also have reached out to some investors in my area for information-Nelson

I am a recent college graduate, I am extremely passionate about real estate investing as a business - this is not a hobby for me - My background is in finance, I am a very analytical person, I truly enjoy analyzing deals, crunching numbers and most importantly finding creative ways to maximize profit and minimize expenses.

The above based on county-level valuation metrics I compute in-house for my own multifamily investment/data analytics endeavors.

The vacancy factor is important to note on the effect it has for a particular month, but from a long-term analytical standpoint, VACANCY shouldn't necessarily affect your decision of 1 vs multiple properties (given the properties are in the same location and the vacancy rate is the same for each). 

Can anyone point me in the direction of analytics showing the appreciation of similar sized condos and coops in the New York area for the past 30-50 years?  

I’m analytical and I love to see the numbers and how they can be manipulated.

Indeed, here is some research done by Collateral Analytics (that sells data/etc to the mortgage industry) that just came out in July where they find that the "FSBO Discount" is typically greater than what the real estate agent commissions would have been, had the property sold for fair retail price.As a buyer, either can be viable.

My potential solutions to the 3 issues are 1) The internet (Trulia, Zillow, Rent-o-meter, etc.)   2) Touring the competition (similar properties) Asking them about their rents and occupancy3) Talking to the current property manager and other local property managers 4) Reaching out to local real estate brokers about the rental listings and the property in general 5) Trying to connect with local investors/landlords thru BP and REIA meets 6) Asking the current owner of the property for the last 3 years of financials before its under contract (probably wont be willing but its worth a shot)  7) Reaching out to the big commercial brokers like CBRE who have closed transactions in the surrounding areas8) Somehow get REIS, which is an real estate data and analytic firm to "demo" their platform to obtain more info on the market As for now these are my potential solutions that I am working on but I would like the community to help me find other solutions or provide some advise. 

I enjoy the analytics of the figures and utilize spreadsheets to "see" how the crunched numbers work (I will even go out of my way to do some of the calculations long-hand; call it a long-lost art).

Just curiousWe ended up using Twilio for the analytic phone numbers.