Which NOO's to pursue?

Question

I just did some slicing and dicing of my county's appraisal district database. It appears that there are about 142,000 residential non-owner occupied properties in my county.

What criteria would you recommend that I use to whittle this number down to a more manageable number of leads that are the most likely to be profitable acquisitions?

I realize there are many answers to this question; I'm just curious to hear the various opinions out there.

Will Barnard · Answer

As Steve mentioned, your strategy is important in order to properly answer the question.

Steve and Justtin laid out some great criteria to use.
I will add that if you are looking for opportunities for owner financed properties, use a search criteria with 25% or less LTV on the property. This will ensure enough equity for a potential owner carried note, getting you in with little to no money.

Justin S. · Answer

I would use years the newest mortgage has been placed.

If you want equity, then anything after 2001 or 2002 probably does not have a lot equity, at least in my area.  You are probably better off in texas.

Steve Babiak · Answer

zip code
number of units (sfh/mfh)
bedrooms and baths
years that newest mortgage has been in place
out-of-state owner
tax assessed value (if there is some multiplier that gets this to be in the ballpark of actual value; worthless if actual value is all over for a specific assessed value)
your exit strategy

Those are some categories for sorting this data; what ones actually would lead to best profit could be very dependent on local factors as well.  Your exit strategy is a factor. Because a house with high value may never cash flow as a rental - so, assuming a landlord's buy-and-hold exit strategy is what you are using, you would avoid that type of house.