Elkhart, IN · Member since 2018 · 14 posts · 3 votes
Any recommendations on the best software to use to find the ARV of a house? I tried using zillow, trulia, realtor.com and REI pro. None of them have updated info. And to be able to wholesale properly I need the correct ARV.
This is one of those reasons I say wholesaling, although touted as a great way to "get started with no money in REI" is something that works better when investors are seasoned. There are no "programs" that will spit out an ARV. You need to be able to do this yourself, or find a realtor who will do a CMA (for no money and no future money from you). Personally I like to run my own comps and find my own ARV. Find local sales of rehabbed houses similar to the one you plan to wholesale. Adjust your house in comparison to the ones you found and determine a solid ARV. Don't inflate the ARV to try and sell the house to an investor, make it accurate.
This is one of those reasons I say wholesaling, although touted as a great way to "get started with no money in REI" is something that works better when investors are seasoned. There are no "programs" that will spit out an ARV. You need to be able to do this yourself, or find a realtor who will do a CMA (for no money and no future money from you). Personally I like to run my own comps and find my own ARV. Find local sales of rehabbed houses similar to the one you plan to wholesale. Adjust your house in comparison to the ones you found and determine a solid ARV. Don't inflate the ARV to try and sell the house to an investor, make it accurate.
The best way is by using the MLS. Which means either you are an agent and have access. Or you have a relationship with an agent that will do it for you. Using Trulia, Zillow etc can give you a ballpark idea of value. However, as an investor I wouldn't rely on just them for comps.
You don't need a realtor or access to the MLS, you have Redfin in your area which is as good as MLS access.
As a realtor I actually use Redfin to pull my comps because I like the interface better and then I import those into my software to do further analysis to adjust for features amenities. The adjustment is something most realtors probably don't do when they run comps for you, which is crazy because the change in value in my neighborhoods can easily mean a difference of tens of thousands of dollars.
I use Zillow and Redfin in addition to the Title Toolbox from Rebogateway to find the closest match, nearest physically, most recent property sales I can find. It tends to be a moving target between these data sources.