When I sold my first house (not investment property) I used MSN to get an idea of what other houses were going for. Then got a FSBO sign at Home Depot, planted it in the yard and in less than two weeks, sold my house.
Look around YOUR area and see what others are selling. That is the true way to do it. Talk to any realtors and look in the classifieds. Its not that hard at all... best of luck to ya
If your looking for true comps, I disagree that selling prices and classifieds are the way to go. A comp needs to be what price the house closed at, not the asking price on a home that has been on the market since the invention of the internet. In my market, asking price is 20-25% over closing price. Quite a margin for error.
I get all my comps from my local title company. If you strike up a relationship with these guys, they are generally very happy to get you this information as long as you use them for title insurance when you do your real estate deals. My title company even gave me access to their online database tool that allows me to do quick comp searches on any property in my county. I've found that the title company database usually has much more current comps than any of the free online services. Good luck.
I use the county assessor's office. All you need is a subdivision name or tax code or address. In Tucson, they are online so it's quick & easy.. . . not up to the minute current tho, like the MLS solds, but the comps are there. Then I look at what's for sale in the neighborhood to see what the trends are. - like how much more the listings are than the sales, how fast they're selling, etc. happy hunting
Just call up a realtor, and say you are from out of town, and wondering what a house, like this in that area goes for, they usually pull up a comp for that anwser.
[addsig]
Most areas have access to the local MLS online these days, do a search for realtors in your area and check their websites. Also look in the paper for comps as well.
i searched and searched for an easy way to get multiple comps on a steady flow, and ended up nowhere on my own..so, i struck up conversations with as many agents i could find that had the same goal as i do..i put her on my team and have since had no problem with comps at all..it has to be an active member of your team, such as getting her listings on the properties you dont want and also listing some of your own properties that you have acquired with your agent..its also good to have more than one agent on your investment team..just a small note-every agent and broker i contacted was all for the structured plan but had no real idea what i was doing..make sure you explain in detail how you go about REI and make sure they understand your bag-o-tricks to accomplish this..this will eliminate the ones along for the ride...hope this helps..
regards-pat
The Wells Fargo site is pretty good as far as free services are concerned.
For some reason though they don't have complete data sets. Or at least they don't deliver them for free. I ran comps on a house that I have in Chicago and compared it to information that I have from SiteX. Wells Fargo is missing about half of the sales. But what they did have was correct.
Have you tried:
http://houseandhome.msn.com
http://www.domania.com
When I sold my first house (not investment property) I used MSN to get an idea of what other houses were going for. Then got a FSBO sign at Home Depot, planted it in the yard and in less than two weeks, sold my house.
Ho...
another good one is www.homeradar.com
Look around YOUR area and see what others are selling. That is the true way to do it. Talk to any realtors and look in the classifieds. Its not that hard at all... best of luck to ya
If your looking for true comps, I disagree that selling prices and classifieds are the way to go. A comp needs to be what price the house closed at, not the asking price on a home that has been on the market since the invention of the internet. In my market, asking price is 20-25% over closing price. Quite a margin for error.
contact your local Realtor, they 'll be more than happy to provide you with a free comp in your area. Or, try your local mortgage company.
I get all my comps from my local title company. If you strike up a relationship with these guys, they are generally very happy to get you this information as long as you use them for title insurance when you do your real estate deals. My title company even gave me access to their online database tool that allows me to do quick comp searches on any property in my county. I've found that the title company database usually has much more current comps than any of the free online services. Good luck.
I use the county assessor's office. All you need is a subdivision name or tax code or address. In Tucson, they are online so it's quick & easy.. . . not up to the minute current tho, like the MLS solds, but the comps are there. Then I look at what's for sale in the neighborhood to see what the trends are. - like how much more the listings are than the sales, how fast they're selling, etc. happy hunting
Just call up a realtor, and say you are from out of town, and wondering what a house, like this in that area goes for, they usually pull up a comp for that anwser.
[addsig]
Most areas have access to the local MLS online these days, do a search for realtors in your area and check their websites. Also look in the paper for comps as well.
i searched and searched for an easy way to get multiple comps on a steady flow, and ended up nowhere on my own..so, i struck up conversations with as many agents i could find that had the same goal as i do..i put her on my team and have since had no problem with comps at all..it has to be an active member of your team, such as getting her listings on the properties you dont want and also listing some of your own properties that you have acquired with your agent..its also good to have more than one agent on your investment team..just a small note-every agent and broker i contacted was all for the structured plan but had no real idea what i was doing..make sure you explain in detail how you go about REI and make sure they understand your bag-o-tricks to accomplish this..this will eliminate the ones along for the ride...hope this helps..
regards-pat
http://homesales.basis100.com/home_sales_report/
The Wells Fargo site is pretty good as far as free services are concerned.
For some reason though they don't have complete data sets. Or at least they don't deliver them for free. I ran comps on a house that I have in Chicago and compared it to information that I have from SiteX. Wells Fargo is missing about half of the sales. But what they did have was correct.