Researching your market before investing

[Shimantika Kumar]

Hi! I would appreciate thoughts or actual experiences and insights on doing some market research on the market potential and target audience preferences for the type of property to invest in. Have any of you done it and where do you usually look for data and information? For example, one may want to invest in rentals in a certain area. All rentals are not the same. There is a range of price and property types and other criteria shorter commutes, or close to city life and restaurants, shopping and malls, or great school district.  Depending on the type of family, its age group and lifestyle, what is attractive to tenants may vary. How do you find out BEFORE YOU INVEST, whether the type of property you wish to invest in is a growing market segment or not?