I have onlu used realtytrac and find their comp data outdate and you can get better comp data from free sites such as zillow. I had their membership for a whole year and found that it wasn't doing it for me. Their searching method to locate properties just plainly sucks. You are confine to the fields they provide for you which is very difficult.
Most of their data out dated and they keep recycling it. You can obtain better information from zillow and the only difference is that you can view the owners address, trusty or bank own informaiton.
Other than that its over rated, save your money you can do better. Get with a realtor and establish a relationship and he can get you all the reo's and foreclosures you can possbile think of. If you are in Southern California i can provide you with an reo and foreclosure list for free. I get this across my desk from month to month and don't mind passing them to real estate investors.
I don't use them so i would have someone put them to better use. There is thousands of them listed, all you need is one or two from the list to get you goin to continue to build that momentum.
Joshua Dorkin, BiggerPockets, Inc. E-Mail: webmaster@biggerpockets.com Telephone: 877-831-4704 Website:http://www.biggerpockets.com Be sure to check out the BiggerPockets Blog at http://www.BiggerPockets.com/renewsblog/
Yes any license real estate agent has access to title, foreclosures and property data information that will put dollar signs in your eyes. Once you have this type of access you will be very powerful my friend. Title companies do not like dealing with investors at least most of them do not because if investors run around with this type of data in their hands they are scare that people with ruing the market place.
With that said you can buy these services from them as a persciption bases on monthly, quarterly and yearly rates. Having a real estate license will give you access to these tools and tricks of the trade that only the real estate professional have or you can simple pay for these services on your own which many investors do anyways.
Always treat the data and the industry with respect because if we allow others to abuse it, it reflects bad on everyone else.
Good luck on your quest if you PM with info on you PM i can pull some foreclosure and/or farm data on your a particular area that you want to invest in FREE OF CHARGE and I WANT NOTHING IN RETURN. What i do ask is that you treat the data, people and the real estate industry with respect. Do not abuse the powers you are about to come forward with or the people you will transact business with.
I only invest in income producing properties and there are millions of properties in the US and i can't do them all and willing to share the information that i have access to with others.
I know how hard it is when you start and having the right tools is important. People hord away secrets beleiving that if you keep them to yourselve others will not take your opportunities creating more for yourself.
I beleive in free knowledge as their is plenty of business to go around and we can all be successful together so we may sit at the same dinner table at that particular expensive restaurant no one else has access to and enjoy the fruits of our labor an discuss how beautiful life is at the top!
Agents have access to data though I am not sure most know what to do with it when it comes to investing. Very few agents invest.
Title companies having problems with investors having access to the data? Why? How will the investors mess things up if they have the data?
Tools and tricks of the trade make it sound like you have to be in a club or something. Having a RE license certainly goes not give someone membership. What tricks of the trade are you referring to?
Professional RE investors are likely to be folks on this site and others who are doing deals on a regular basis. There is no professional body otherwise so where are you drawing the line?
John if the title companies want to give investors access to title informaiton such as foreclosure farm lists and everything else that comes with the ability of pulling information on properties then everyone would have access to it but as you can see it is exclusive and/or you must pay for it if you can afford it.
Yes you have to be part of the club of either one or both which is be a real estate professional who has access to these tools and/or you must buy these services as an investor plain and simple.
A real estate license does give you access to tools that the average person does not have if they are only an investor.
Not sure why you even asked these things you know very well that what type of access being in the real estate industry one has and if you don't which you do as you provide hard money funding services you know exactly what i am talking about.
A few too many assumptions. Your logic is circular so not up to engineering standards.
Agents get very little for free. Their access to services is charged to them one way or the other.
Investors can buy as much or as little as they want.
Title companies do offer directly access to the data. Some will even provide weekly mailings to investors where the investor pays nothing.
The club idea is overrated. If people want access they can get it. We have discussed this already on this site.
As to what I use or what anyone else uses. You are guessing and you are not very good at guessing. Better to offer your views without making stuff up. When you make it up and get it wrong people start to doubt everything you are saying.
If agents have access to all this great data why is it that statistically agents rarely invest in RE? Did the data scare them off? Maybe being an investor is less about what services you have and more about getting deals done.
Thank you John, well said. firoengineer is making absolutely no sense, he sounds like a real estate industry conspiracy theorist. There are a lot of services and databases available - title companies will share information with anyone whom they have an established business relationship.
There are some free sties out there that provide some foreclosures but they do not have a complete list. You can also bid on these properties directly through the website using a re agent. www.bidselect.com is one I use.
Hi Maybe because I am new but I don't get what is said here. Is there somewhere it was suggested I intro myself? Did I miss it? 10 posts before offering services? Again did I miss that? Agree with your don't over promote suggestion and hate knuckleheads who try to sell services, we all need to make a buck and some services are valuable. As a monderator I appreciate your efforts and admittedly just clicked on ok when told rules, maybe I missed some things.
I'm working on NOTS in the Seattle area by door knocking that has been moderately successful getting contracts signed ,but I'm looking to get into NOD stage to build up some rapport with the owners to obtain lease options, Listings, more contracts, etc. A foot in the door before everyone else.
Can anyone recommend me a current data source that will provide NOTICE OF DEFAULT? I understand some Credit agencies or Banks provide these sources with Fee.
Jul 03 '07, 09:58 PM
