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Real Estate Market Research
from: Steve GillmanStart your real estate market research with the U.S. Census
information about a town. You want to invest in a town that is
growing, especially if you are investing in income properties.
It's getting easier to do this now, with all the information
available online. Just go to the official U.S. Census site at
www.census.gov.
If you call the chamber of commerce, or the local department of
economic development, they may have a packet of statisics they
can send you too, showing population figures, employment mix,
and more. These are a couple of the statistical tools and
information that can help, but one of the easiest and most
useful research tools, is talking.
Real Estate Market Research - Choosing a City
Talking is a great way to research a town. I once called the
Chamber of Commerce of Deming, New Mexico. In the course of our
conversation, the chairman casually commented that the city was
using up the water faster than the aquifer was being
replenished. I also learned that they had no back-up plan. That
was enough to cross Deming off our list.
When you want to know more about a town, use the phone. Use any
excuse to call anyone from a real estate agent to a random
resident. Ask questions about crime, whether the local
government welcomes new businesses, what the climate is like.
Are houses sitting for sale for a long time, or do they go fast?
Where are the good and bad areas? What are the good and bad
things about the town?
Prior to moving to Tucson, Arizona, part of our real estate
market research was to call people in potential towns to see if
they owned a snow shovel. If they did, we crossed the town off
the list. Two different places can both get 25 inches of snow
per year, but in one it stays all winter, and in another it
melts before noon. Our snow shovel question told us the truth
behind the statistics.
That was just a personal thing with us, of course, but talking
to people can tell you much that is more directly related to
investing. In fact, a good local bar can be a great place to do
your research once you are in a town. Patrons will tell you what
big employers are about to move in or out of the town, how fast
homes are selling, whether there are gangs, and much more.
Ask which areas are improving, and which are getting worse.
Listen for stories about noisy or animal-infested areas. This
kind of information is important, but hard to get from the raw
data. Of course, people do sometimes exaggerate, so try to
verify what you hear. Still, talking to people of can be a great
way to do real estate market research.
About the author:
Steve Gillman has invested in real estate for years. To learn
more, get a free real estate investing course, and see a photo
of a beautiful house he and his wife bought for $17,500, visit
nderFiftyThousand.com
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