All Forum Posts by: Shawn Bhatti

 Michael makes some excellent points here. And to add to that, I would say if you are interested in Class C, looking sub-markets where there is clearly upside to be Class B soon. These are gentrifying neighborhoods where development is rampant and properties are selling at a price point above replacement cost.

I would buy a 2-4 unit in the Austin market with 5-10 % down. Save 6 months for reserves and use the remaining money to do a BRRR deal either in Austin or in a market that may cashflow better.

The short answer: there isn't a present comprehensive tool that all investors use for everything (yet). So with that said, I'll do my best to provide a comprehensive overview of features and platforms that may include them:

Location analysis: niche.com, padstats.com, city-data.com, neighborhoodscout

Rental valuations: rentcast.io, padstats.com, rentometer.com

Property valuations: zillow.com, redfin.com

Deal analysis underwriting: biggerpockets, excel

Before you look at a single individual property, you need a solid understand of which market/markets you would like to invest in. Look for strong economic and population growth with a robust and diverse employment base.

Next, you should identify neighborhoods and locations which fit your investments criteria. Free products like niche.com or advanced paid and more granular solutions like padstats.com can be useful here. You really need to familiarize yourself with the area and understand trends such as:

What is the crime like in this neighborhood in which I may invest?

Is this a strong upside thesis that would make sense for me to hold a property here for 5+ years?

Are there a ton of renovated properties or are they mostly selling far below replacement cost? The latter is a poor strategy and should be avoided at all costs if you actually want to profit over time.

I would go with Stessa. Free accounting options and fairly easy to keep track of things and get updated monthly/annual reports.

I’ve been really impressed with PadStats, a platform that's revolutionizing real estate tech with its AI-driven tools. PadStats uses a proprietary socioeconomic viability score for each block group, census tract, and county in the US. This helps ensure the rental price suggestions are incredibly accurate by avoiding less similar locations.

For property condition assessments, PadStats utilizes AI and computer vision to score properties based on Fannie Mae condition guidelines, which has been a game-changer for precision in rental valuations.

They are also expanding to include automated property valuations and crime data heatmaps, making it an even more comprehensive tool for real estate professionals.

As for non-AI tools, I still find Asana and Stessa indispensable for workflow management and portfolio tracking. What about you all? Any other recommendations?

I know there is a company that is working to use AI to streamline self-storage revenue, though I cannot recall the name right now. I know placer.ai has been a big name in the game as well.

I'd avoid apartments or any costar product for that matter. They weren't built for smaller landlords like us. Stessa and TurboTenant are popular options.

Most products just don't cut it. Why? They fail to account for significant differences in property condition and location. These factors are crucial, yet no software has successfully addressed them—until now.

Imagine you have a property in a high-income area, but just one street over is a neighborhood in the bottom quartile of income. PadStats has developed a proprietary socioeconomic viability score for each block group, census tract, and county in the US. This allows our machine learning models to provide more accurate rental price suggestions by avoiding less similar locations.

While PadStats is currently available in two states and a few other MSAs, adding support for Richmond, VA, would be straightforward.

Their revolutionary rental Automated Valuation Model (AVM) considers 23 inputs for each property, using Fannie Mae condition guidelines to score and assess property conditions via AI and computer vision.

Nice! House hacking is a great way to get started. I did the same thing as you with my VA loan on a new townhome back in 2020; you won't regret it!

Make sure you have a great location analytics software to understand the type of neighborhood you are investing in. This would be my single biggest piece of advice, as a rough location with little upside offers little margin for error.

I sent you a DM to help out :)