All Forum Posts by: Steph C.

In searching records in Bristol County, I haven't had much success searching that way (by type/description), as that is not always accurate or there may be other documents listed for that home.  (Maybe your county has a better search criteria than mine.)

I've had better luck in trying to go for the address first and then going to the local Registry of Deeds records to find further details about that property or property owner.   The typical list source companies can help as a starting point or even local services like The Warren Group.

You can also look at a street address and review all the listings on that street, but that could be very time consuming.

I'd be open to hearing others' thoughts as well to find more effective searching methods in MA.

Good luck!

You're always going to run into "Negative Nellies" or people who don't want you to succeed.  Whether it's family, friends, co-workers, etc., it can be difficult to hear it when people try to bring you down.  Don't let their negativity stop you from achieving your goals.  Sometimes it can be easier to just keep your hopes and dreams from certain people.

Also, often times many people don't want to see others succeed because it makes them feel "less than." And those same people typically don't take any steps to improve their lives and don't want to see you far surpass them in life.  

Best of luck to you!

Congrats, @Andrew Ashby  After a long and hard day, reading your story was inspirational and much needed.  I wish you the best and lots of success in the future! 

Sadly, I can't say that I disagree with some of the things @Brandon McLean mentioned. But, there are some great things about RI, too.  I don't think anyone can dispute the local government corruption issues. :-)

@Sean Price , whether you move to South County RI, NYC, CT, or elsewhere, here are a couple of great websites to check out the area and get real specific info, down to the neighborhood level:

http://www.city-data.com

http://www.bestplaces.net

Good luck!

Well said, @Jim Sestito .  

The same house in Pawtucket usually sells for a bit higher if it's just over the border in MA (Attleboro or Seekonk).  I believe the houses are staying on the market a bit longer in RI, too.

There are deals in Attleboro and Seekonk, but not as many as in the past. If you are looking on the MLS, deals are getting swiped up FAST! There used to be 400 listings in my daily MLS email list for this region but in the past year or two, I'm lucky to get 200. Inventory is low - there are a lot less REOs and short sales being listed and many people are upgrading their own homes instead of upgrading or moving up.

The market is pretty strong here and anything decent goes under contract fairly quickly. We've been outbid on a lot of properties in the past couple years. I have seen many properties go under contract quite fast and when I see the final sale price, it's WAY more than we would have paid to acquire (to rehab). Also, our Agent has told us that a lot of houses (even ones that only previously rehabbers would only touch) are being purchased by homeowners with rehab or FHA/203k loans, which makes sense based on purchase prices I see after closing. Chalk that up to HGTV, I guess. :-)

Also, a lot of multis here are selling for top dollar (for the region), and most Agents are advising clients to sell now that the prices are back up. I've number crunched many of them and many are not producing as high a cash flow for investors unless you were to live in one of the units or plan to BRRRR!

So the alternative ways of finding deals like driving for dollars and marketing are getting more important around here.

Good luck!

Steph

Great info from @DL Martin.  I like Joe Fairless's podcast and this sounds like a great event.

Also, I've been listening to Vena Jones-Cox for years. She's a well-known real estate investor and wholesaler in Cincinnati.  She has a weekly radio show on Wednesdays at https://www.wmkvfm.org/innercircle.php (also available as a podcast on iTunes and she has a YouTube channel).

I think she'd be a great person to connect with since you're local to the area and she's been investing in the area for decades. I like her down-to-earth approach when explaining things so you may find her guidance helpful as well.

Good luck!

Steph

You're welcome, @Sean Price.  Good luck and keep us posted!

Great info from @Anthony Thompson.

I lived/worked in RI for years and there are jobs in RI, but many companies have left or moved many good paying jobs to cheaper locales (e.g, MetLife). It's really good news that GE and other companies are moving jobs to Providence.

I know many people who who have excellent tech/white collar jobs in the Providence area.  Conversely, I work in the Boston area and I know several people who commute from the Providence area as well. The commute is long and not so great for them. But, what they get in return is a Boston pay scale and less expensive housing in Providence area.  So, it a trade-off that many people are willing to accept.  Plus, they get all the excellent food and culture in Providence close-to-home, which is fantastic.

Good luck!

In addition to a list or data mining service (like The Warren Group), if you need to do smaller research projects, you can go to the city/town's tax assessor's websites, as others have mentioned above.  

In addition, I have had good luck in finding real estate transaction info (including new/old owner names and addresses) on the county's deed registry website, where all real estate records are compiled for a county. This option is usually pretty easy and you can search by name, address, city/town, etc.

Just Google "X County Registry of Deeds" and the websites available will come right up. Any county near my location (e.g., Bristol, Plymouth, etc.) has a website with online transaction data, so my guess is that all other counties in MA would have the same resources available.  Sometimes you have to dig or search more than one way to find what you need, but you can usually find what you're looking for on the county's site.  This is not a great option for locating bulk data for lists or transactions older than 50+ years, though.

Good luck!

Steph

Thanks for the reply, @Matthew T.  I also sent you a colleague request.