All Forum Posts by: Jeff Warner

Glad to help Joe. Depends on the county. There is one county near me that I can view all sales online through the county website. In my county I need to call the title company or a realtor. You might be able to have the tax assessor print a list for you, I've never asked though.

Another thing I do is always look on the mls and craigslist, you'll see the same homes week after week and once they start to disappear from the listings you can go to the county site and see if it was sold. That's also a good way to find buyers...if your watching the REO's on the mls, you can follow them along until they sell and see who is buying them up. In my area there is one guy that is buying like crazy, I see his name on 80% or more of the recent REO sales. This obviously also helps you learn your market better.

Jeff

Another thing to point out; since I know my market I can get within $20k of any property in my area, which allows me to feel out a seller and see if it is worth my time and theirs to dig deeper into the comps to make a solid offer.

Example:

I got a call from a lady last week that has a "fixer" she wants to sell, I know the ARV is approx. $140 - 150K, she said its needs a full remodel: roof, kitchen, bath, floors, paint in and out, etc. Without seeing the house I knew I could offer no more then $70 - 80k. When I asked what she wanted she told me $135k, so no need to pull comps on that one. Make sense?

Jeff

Not every property, I live in a small town and I know the comps pretty well. Some rural areas are tough though because alot of them have acreage vs a small "city" lot and usually very few comps to compare.

What I like to do to stay on top of it is look every couple weeks at recent sales. I also keep track of what the realtors are doing, especially with REO's. On some of the REO's I make notes every time they lower a price so I can follow it along. You'd be amazed at how often a realtor will start 40-50k above where they should, then they lower the price as the market falls but still remain too high. It's like they're in denial about what the true value of these homes are. Oh well, that's another topic.

Bottom line is you need to study your target area thoroughly so you know the comps as good or better then the realtors for that area.

Jeff

Yeah I call whenever I need comps. There is a title company that I don't know anyone at and I've never been in before but they pull comps for me in that county. It's all about being able to quickly build rapport with someone as well as being polite and respectful.

I'm sure there are lots of title companies in your area and they are all competing for business. Title companies want to take care of investors and realtors. What other type of buyer is going to have them close multiple deals a year? Retail buyers see them maybe two or three times in their life so from a business perspective it makes sense to take care of the people that feed you.

Jeff

Like Josh said, there are no shortcuts. Here is an example:

I put in an address where I know the value, here is the breakdown per site:

Zillow: $159k
Epraissal: $147,539
CyberHomes: $112,110

Actual Value: $100k

Talk about throwing money away...cyber homes was close but that 12k could cost me a deal or cut into my profits. The problem with those sites, like others mentioned is they use old comps and if you know your area you can most likely discount some that are too far away just by looking at the street name.

In a market that is rapidly changing you simply cannot afford to rely on outdated data, you need to know what the home is worth TODAY, not last year.

Jeff

I don't think he's worried about the % of the deal, sounds like he doesn't want to loose his buyer to another wholesaler to me.

Jeff

Hey Joe,

I don't like either of those sites but if I had to pick one I would use cyberhomes. Zillow seems to use the county appraised value which in my area is way higher then the true comps.

I know it's easier to use a website to try and get comps, especially at night when businesses are closed but I would recommend getting in contact with a title company in your area. I have a local title company that is willing to pull comps for me, no charge. The thing I like about their comps vs a realtor is they show ALL sales, not just MLS.

One word of caution though, I don't ask for "comps", I ask for ALL sales within a one mile radius for the last 90 days and then I sort the data and find my own comps. Hope that helps.

Jeff

Forgot to mention you could call an appraiser and have them do a "desktop" appraisal for you...Scott from MI on this site (haven't seen him for a while) used to be a big advocate of that. The downside is $50-70.00 out of your pocket, you may want to get a ballpark from the owner to see if you can even get close before spending money to pinpoint the value.

Jeff

Does your state use title companies? If so call one and ask if they can run a report of ALL sales within a one mile radius of the property in the last 90 days, then sort through the data and find your own comps.

Jeff