STUDYING MY MARKET

[Corey Gentry]

I see a lot of you guys suggesting that newbies should study their market for a long period of time before jumping into things. Exactly what is involved in this process? I'm in the Dallas area and I need some advice please !!!

[Will Barnard]

Get info from a knowledgable agent who can provide you the following:
Current inventory levels (amount of RE on the market for sale, both in number of units and the figure which represents how long it would take to go through the current inventory). A stable market is considered to have a six (6) month inventory level. 9 months would be a declining market, below 6 would be an appreciating one - this is in general of course.

Second, get the inventory levels of 6 monbths ago, 1 year ago and 2 years ago. This will help you "project" where your market is heading. You also wnat to get the avreage DOM (days on market) for both distressed and standard sales. This figure will help you project your holding time to exit which should be added on to your rehab timeframe.

Next, get the number and percentage of distressed sales vs. standard sales. Distressed sales = REO and short sales
This will tell you how much product is for sale that is your competition on your flip side (your exit) with standard sales and how much product is available for your to purchase on the acquisition side at good discounts.

Finally, you want to personally drive your farm area and get familiar with neighborhoods. No which are good, which are bad. Which areas have easy exit sales (low DOM) and which units are harder to sell. Always know that units on busy streets, those that back up to busy streets and those that are near airports, train tracks, commercial, etc usually have an approximate value of 10% less than those that are not near these things.