Is List Source Reliable?

Question

I read about List Source in Finding & Funding Great Deals. So far it's only been useful to find SFR markets, but I want to start out house hacking a Multi-Family property. When I use the Multi-Family, Duplex, Triplex, and Quads filter on ListSource the properties on my list usually drop to zero. I do this for multiple zip codes and still most of the time the number stays at zero. I'm looking in New Jersey. Has anyone else run into this issue? Am I setting my filters incorrectly? Or are there just not that many Multi-Families in the NJ Market?

Sean OToole · Answer

@Patrick Fermo, yes, a little. I recently used our software to identify every multi-family property in my market and then reached out to every owner for a 1031 exchange. Did not find a willing seller for a large complex as I hoped, but did find multiple off-market sellers and ultimately bought a smaller multi-family project from one of them and some commercial property. Complex needed some work but all-in the cap rate ended up a couple points better than anything listed.

Guy S. · Answer

@Patrick Fermo

In addition to the good advice @Sean OToole you, could also narrow down results based on probable square footage and # rooms for your neighborhood. Let's say a typical three-plex in jersey city will be at least 2600 sqft/ 7 bedrooms

Sean OToole · Answer

Thanks @Patrick Fermo. I think most successful RE investors are part sleuth. Whether figuring out how to dig through public records for opportunities, skip tracing missing owners, analyzing chain of title, or researching old documents and maps to find hidden value, I think being part sleuth is what differentiates the best from the rest. :-)

Sean OToole · Answer

May nailed it when she said it depends on the county, it's almost always a county issue rather than data provider issue.But that does NOT necessarily mean you can't use the data to find multi-families, it just takes a bit of reverse engineering. To do that, find a few properties (by driving around) that are like the ones you want to target, and note their addresses. Then look those up and see what they have in common. Unfortunately ListSource isn't great for looking up assessors data on individual properties, so you can use their sister service RealQuest, another service, or do it directly at the county. For multi-family pay attention to fields like sq ft (not many 20k sf homes), units (this is often the best), beds/bath, rooms, etc. Usually something will stand out and you can then use that as a criteria in ListSource to find all the other multi-family properties in the area.

Patrick Fermo · Answer

@Grant Rothenburger It seems reliable, and that's good to know for me it was just frustrating because I was unable to generate any lists using the multi-family filters, but Mary was able to clear up why.

Grant Rothenburger · Answer

@Patrick Fermo I've had success with List Source myself and know a lot of others that have as well.

Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil · Answer

I have used prospect now in the past. Very good source to find information for multifamily owners. Also CoStar, which is a paid (expensive) subscription

May Emery · Answer

ListSource is great if you know what you want - and most often for Absentee Owners (which gets mailed to a LOT in hot markets like NJ)

The problem with the multi-family homes isn't with ListSource, but with NJ. They combine single and multifamily homes together when do the reporting for the list compilers.

Jerryll Noorden · Answer

Read my response here about mid way down.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/87-real-estate-investor-marketing/topics/710779-devil-s-advocate-for-direct-mail-plan?page=1#p4192579

List source is data. It is just that. Data. Where they get their data from is probably the same source where everyone else get their data from. Is it reliable? Answer is.. it is as reliable as any other site that provides said data

But there is a deeper issue you need to think about.

Data is just data.

YOU are the one that is assuming all sorts of things around that data.

A list of absentee owners .... is this a good list? I say HECK NO!, you say heck yeah.Who is right?

(well I am obviously) but that is not the point. You draw conclusions based on that data, and when you dont get a lead... that data must have been wrong right?

Nope...

your assumption on the effectiveness of that data to suit your purposes have been wrong. Not really the data. Again.. data is just data.

read the post above (link I sent) to understand why I am saying this!

Patrick Fermo · Answer

@Sean OToole Couldn't agree more. It just takes time and practice. Do you do any multi-family investing?

Is List Source Reliable?

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