Market Analysis - Are There Buyers in an Area?

[Brian Kittner]

Hi All,

I'm working my way through "The Book on Flipping Houses" by J Scott, and am currently working to identify a prospective farming area.

When trying to gauge whether there are buyers in an area, J suggests that at least 60% of listings should eventually sell. Would comparing the number of active listings per month to the number of sales per month over a 12 month period give a general sense to this metric? 

Also, if anyone has any of their own tips on how to get a sense of the number of buyers in an area, or just market analysis tips in general they would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Brian

[Mike Flora]

@Brian Kittner another thing to look at is what is pending sale that is a close match to your property in the area. I find pending sales, look at the pictures to see what I’m gonna have to do to get the desired price against my competition. Then I will call the listing agent on those pending sales to see if they got full asking, did appraisal come back good, how many showings did they get before they got an offer etc etc. Southern California has slowed and dipped a little in certain areas so only looking at recently sold properties is not the way to go. You have to look at what’s up for sale and pending sale cause that’s gonna be your competition!!!