There are so many tools to help buyers and sellers do a great deal of research on their own but most of it is off the mark and to have the in depth knowledge of a market or historical data, that is held with the agents and our systems.

Purchase data:Asking price: $85,000My offer price: $73,500ARV: (per Redfin sold data) ±$110,000 Rehab: guessing around $10,000Closing/inspection, etc: $650 (i have no clue on this number)Holding Costs: $1,147 assuming about 2 months for rehabCash Purchase - all in for $85,297Income data:Rent: $1,050 per month (from zillow area rent data)Expenses (monthly):HOA: $17Insurance: $60Taxes: $166.67Vacancy: $52.50Repairs/maint: $52.50CapEx: $105.00Property Management: $105.00Total: $558.67NOI: $491.33 ($5,896 annual)Refinance:LTV: 75% of ARVLoan amount: $82,500 @3.75% for 30 years (estimated)Payment: $382.07Refi fees: $2,500 (assumed)Total cash invested post refi: $5,297.33  ( I'm not sure if i calculated this number correctly, any input would help me greatly!!)

With interest rates so low it has driven down cap rates.

I recently attended a RE meetup event and the speaker emphasized treating real estate investments as cold, number-driven investments and actually suggested buying properties physically far away from the investor is one way to control for this to ensure that investment decisions are made dispassionately.

They will be happy to help, since finding and collating data is often part of what they do.  

I am a fairly new agent still learning the ropes and while looking at the MLS data for my area for turnover rates, all the peak turnover areas around me are HEAVILY farmed already, but i found 2 that had great turnover numbers for over 5+ years compared to other areas and not one single agent in the area had more than 10% of the sales, but when i drove out to see the areas i found out quickly that both are gated communities with no soliciting signs everywhere... 

Hi @Thomas Manning1. get a deal calculator (BP has some), use it and start to understand the meaning of the underlying data.2.

@George Beatty, your best bet is probably to do an Excel export and analyze the data from the spreadsheet generated.https://help.podio.com/hc/en-us/articles/201019668-Exporting-to-Excel

Miles driven for work?

Some are free but you will usually get only landlines.Some  have a monthly subscription, prices range from 5$ - 20$ for phone numbers.Some of the sites allow unlimited searches and some are limited to a number of searches.If you have a big list you might prefer data append services where you would upload a list and get all the phone numbers added to your list at once.If you would like more info feel free to PM me.