Comps?????????
Does anyone know of any good web sites for pulling comps on properties in the Missouri area? I'm tired of waiting for my realtor to help me www.out.It would seem that if I could just pull comps from home that it would save a ton of time. I know about the county websites {way too much searching}, and the pay sites{ way too costly} I would like to pull comps for free or have a set monthly fee, with no limits. Any help would be appreciated.
Try www.firstam.com. You will have to fill out an online application. Good luck.
Jeffrey Adam
[addsig]
Do you have any friends that are realtors who would be willing to help you in this area? They're going to have the best access to that kind of information.
I sometimes use Domania (it's a free signup) to do search the nearby addresses, but you almost need to know what the other units look like for comparison, because all it gives you is a price. I hope this helps... once I know the immediate area, this website has been helpful. Sometimes I even see what the current owner paid, as it goes rather far back.
Good luck!
Thanks guys, both sites have been a big help. Ifj I can find a good comp, property data, and AVN site at a reasonable price that would be great. Keep up the good info.
Find a new realtor to help you. If your current one is not doing the job get a new one. That may sound harsh but this is a business. If I didn't get information to my clients in a timely fashion I'd expect to be "fired". Realtros are a "dime a dozen" but find the right one and you'll have the opportunity to offer on many, many deals and make lots and lots of money. Remember, a realtor doesn't get paid unless you close on a property. They work for you.
Q
P.S. I'm a realtor and I despise the ones who give us a bad name![ Edited by RunningQ on Date 01/25/2004 ]
Thanks RunningQ, I have a pretty good realtor, who I know pretty well. The thing is I'm wanting to have instant access to comps and property data. I know that as many properties as I'm researching that there really isn't time for her to drop what she's doing at any given second to pull comps on 20 properties or more. I might research 200 properties before I can weed through and find the ones I like. I have access to the MLS but only the listings not the other bell and whistles. If anyone has experience with any Property Valuation programs or pay sites, I'd like to hear about your experiences. I've looked at the ones listed on this site. Just looking at other options if there are any. Thanks in advance
Are you sure that your county web site has way too much searching or are you just not familiar with it?
My property appraiser web site shows sales for the subdivision. It will also show a map that I can zoom in and out, and will show the last sale date and price for parcels. The three most recent years of sales are color coded for easy viewing. My site has a lot of bells and whistles, but it took me many hours of playing to learn them.
Now when I look at other comp sites I do not like them as they pull comps that are out of the subdivision and not really comparable.
Brenda
Brenda,
What is this site you are referring to? Can anyone get access to something like that? Or must you be a property appraiser?
bggrossnickle, I'm confused at what your talking about. I don't have a property evaluator program. I have access to the MLS listings and minimal property info, I receive this free of charge from my realtor as a web site. I'm looking for a good property evaluator web site that is decently priced or free. I don't think I'm going to find the second one, at least not with what I'm asking of it. Sorry for any confusion.
Within a few weeks. We will have an 'E-appraiser" program that will give you an electric appraisal on the exact property that you want to evaluate.
It will appear in the Services area of the website.
Stay tuned.
Joel, do you have anymore details. Such as cost, coverage area etc. Thanks in advance.
Another useful website previously posted in another forum is: http://www.bankofamerica.com/loansandhomes/index.cfm?template=hc_home_worth&statecheck=NV
The valuations seem to be a little low, which is probably the better side to err on.
[addsig]
timerwin, that was pretty good, had some difficulty in certain counties. But seems to be pretty solid. The figures do seem to be a little low. Thanks.
I agree with finding a good realtor. Also, if you buy a lot of homes, find a good appriaser. If you give them business, they should be able to give you some free estimates of value.
Good luck!
I have found www.domania.com to be an excellent free site for comps.
dajack,
If you're trying to run comps on every possible deal that you encounter, you're going about this the wrong way. You only need to run comps on deals on which you will be making an offer, or better still, on which you've already made contingent offers on.
If you're not shooting a little $$$ towards your RE agent when they pull these comps, it's no wonder that they are getting slow in giving them to you. You're wasting their time.
There are two things that you need to do. First, you need to select a farm area. This could be a group of neighborhoods, a section of your county, city, whatever. Take this farm area and learn the values of homes. Have your agent pull all the solds in this area. Check out what the current asking prices are. Soon, you'll be able to tell when it's a good deal just by hearing it (though due diligence is still important).
Second, if you have access to your county records, learn to use them to their fullest. If they give sell prices, then use them, even if it is "too much searching." On my local county site, I have to pull each parcel to find it's sold price, but I do that in every neighborhood that I buy properties in, and I know what FMV is for my areas.
Time is money. If you want to save your time, you'll have to buy someone else to use theirs. Respect your agent.
Roger
rajwarrior, I appreciate the advice The reason I want to pull comps on so many deals is because I birddog and wholesale, my buyers list has many different types of buyers who buy in many different areas not in just a few different subdivisions So as a general investor what you have suggested makes perfect sense. "Keep it Simple Stupid" in the beginning But as a birddog I feel I need to have access to many areas to best satisfy my clients
And I do compensate my RE agent, I know that her time is valuable, and I would never take that for granted I'm just trying to shake the bush and see if anyone has used or have opinions on any other sites that would be beneficial in finding comps and property data, and or property valuation
I do use the county resources, what I have found at mine might not be as useful as what you might have access to Thanks again
I think you're confused on what a comp is. A comp isn't something you can just "pull up". It is time consuming. You could do a minimal comp spending 20 min-30 min, and if you're wanting 20 properties done as you say, you're wanting them to spend 10 hours in front of the computer doing comps. That is why they are slow in getting back to you. Narrow it down...
Ruman, I know what a comp is. And I know that it can take time to pull. But I also know that I have been to websites and by typing in addresses, within seconds I would have 20 comps and a property valution right in front of me. And the problem was some were pretty pricey (trial offers) , some didn't have the counties I was looking for, and some just didn't have enough info. I have one in particular that I'm probably going to sign up for. All I'm trying to do is get info on what others have tried. Not looking to do a full appraisal on every lead.
Which one have you decided to go with, if you don't mind me asking?
I'm looking into the First American website now. Hopefully, they are not too expensive.
Yes the property valuation will be right in front of you but you are assuming it is accurate. Usually through the assessors site if you have one, you can find a list of houses sold in an area. I can pull up properties that have sold within a certain amount of time a certain distance from an address. That is exactly how a comp is gathered as a realtor. That is how I used to do it before I got access to the MLS. That would be my suggestion.
Quote:
On 2004-01-27 12:27, dajackhammer wrote:
Ruman, I know what a comp is. And I know that it can take time to pull. But I also know that I have been to websites and by typing in addresses, within seconds I would have 20 comps and a property valution right in front of me. And the problem was some were pretty pricey (trial offers) , some didn't have the counties I was looking for, and some just didn't have enough info. I have one in particular that I'm probably going to sign up for. All I'm trying to do is get info on what others have tried. Not looking to do a full appraisal on every lead. <IMG SRC="images/forum/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif">
[ Edited by Ruman on Date 01/27/2004 ]
The problem I have noticed with a lot of these quick comp websites is that the houses may very well be in the same area, but a lot of the specificiations are not the same. In order to truly be accurate, you have to dig a little deep, and that takes time.
mpldja, that was the one I was looking into I did a trial offer with them. And worked pretty well had alot of different options. Had some county conflicts so I would do the trial offer first. I have six different counties that would be considered the Kansas City Mero. So not all were accessible. But the most. I think it was going to be was $75 a month and that was all upfront. for a year. Came to $1200 or so for a year. Good Hunting Ruman I don't know how many counties you deal with Polk and what else? I think the problem is different areas and different roles in investing create different opinions. But thanks for all the advice .
jstoub, I agree. And i have dealt with alot of them websites as well. I am trying to find what others have found to be their best sites that they use / And their experience with each Thanks
Jackhammer:
If you have MLS access, you have access to comps!
Whenever you are going to buy a property, you need to run at least two sets of comps. I would recommend title company comps and MLS comps.
You also need to go on the MLS and see what that specific property is selling for in that area. For example, sometimes you can find comps on a property for 150k, however properties are selling in that area for $130k or vice versa.
In summary, always run two sets of comps and check the MLS for what properties are currently selling for.
Best Riches,
Jeffrey Adam
_________________
"The only place success comes before work
is in the dictionary."[ Edited by JeffreyAdam on Date 01/27/2004 ]
JeffreyAdams, thats some good advice. I never really thought about running an MLS comp search of existing homes for sale, which is what I believe you are implying. The only problem I see is, that most homes don't sell for what they are listed at. But if you can take that into consideration when looking then that should give you a better understanding of the current market. Thanks
On the MLS you can search Active listings and Sold listings. To do your comps you'd just search the sold listings in a certain area(you can select it even by a square on a map, like mapquest) within a certain time period. Then you have to go in and accound for sq. ft. differences, bedroom, garage, etc, each item requiring different additions and subtractions. You should compare three homes per comp.
The www.realtor.com website can be used to get current listings. This helps to see what is out there and is somewhat useful. Lots of variables to play with to get close to your target property.
To obtain info on the actual closed deals with sales prices, subscribe to one of the various services like dataquick or siteX (the latter being my preference), they are also good for direct mail lead development as well as pulling custom comps for your target house or area.
Molotov
It may be better to find a realtor who specializes in each of the areas your investors are interested www.in.This way you spread around the www.wealth.Mortgage and title companies are also good places to get recent comps.As someone has already suggested you need to pay your realtor(s) for pulling comps.
If you are going to be in this business for the long haul, you need to do your own comps! Any successful investor I know does their own comps. I look at 20-30 properties a day and if I had to pay realtors for comps I would be broke.
Besides that, time if of the essence. Lets say a good deal comes on the market, are you going to wait a day or two to get the comps from the realtors?
I know someone in your area that will
purchase it while you are waiting for your comps. You snooze, you lose!
Jeffrey Adam
_________________
"The only place success comes before work
is in the dictionary."[ Edited by JeffreyAdam on Date 01/28/2004 ]
Damn, Mr Adams I'm starting to like you. Thats exactly how I feel. Thats why I feel if there is a quick and easy way to have that info that would be great. Has anyone tried FirstAmerican and if they did what was their experience. Thanks in advance
I think Adams was telling you to try and do them yourself....
I was thinking of offering a deal to investors in my area... charging a small fee per comp, then if they end up purchasing through me, refund them all of their comp fees. Example: I charge $10 per comp to do comps for an investor, he does 10 with me, he then buys a property through me, I then refund him $100, so they end up being free.
Jackhammer:
I have been using FirstAmerican for 7 years now. www.firstam.com
If you use them for your title insurance, they will give you access. Also, negotiate a rate of 60-65% of base rate with no sub-escrow and buy with a binder policy.
Learn your playing field and do your own comps. Back up title company comps with MLS Comps. Look whats available
for sale to check out the competition!
Best Riches,
Jeffrey Adam
[addsig]
JeffreyAdam, do you happen to know if www.firstam.com is connected in any way to www.firstamres.com that was the particular site I had visited. It looks as though they are one in the same, but I couldn't find any info on the Realquest program on www.firstam.com , the logos are similar but the programs available are different. Any ways, I wanted to say that as I have read back through this post and the consensus is that I should pull my own comps, and I agree completely, however I don't understand why paying an agent and or going to the courthouse to pull comps is more efficient than paying $75-100 a month to have all the information conviently packaged in one place. I have counties here in the KC area that are definately behind the times, so I do have to use the courthouse or an agent. But my original post wasn't how does everyone prefer to do it. It was " Does anyone know of any good web sites for pulling comps on properties in the Missouri area? I'm tired of waiting for my realtor to help me www.out.It would seem that if I could just pull comps from home that it would save a ton of time. I know about the county websites {way too much searching}, and the pay sites{ way too costly} I would like to pull comps for free or have a set monthly fee, with no limits. Any help would be appreciated."
I'm not trying to go the easy route, I was just trying to get info on different websites that others had tried, instead I have been told Idon't know what pulling a comp is, that I might not know how to use my county website, and my favorite find another realtor,after I stated that the realtor(who does get paid) wasn't the problem. Sorry about venting.
FYI those of you in non disclosure states domina will not have the info for your state, many of the services do not. A paid service, appraisal office or your realtor will be your only access as far as we can find.
If you are lucky your local realtor wil provide any you need.
First American corporation includes a long list of affiliated companies. For those who want to learn more about the company, visit http://www.firstam.com/faf/services/prodsvcs.html For those who like to know what they can get in terms of property value, this are the service you should be looking at:
Property Information:
Data Tree Corporation
Data Trace
eAppraiseIT
First American Real Estate Solutions
If you are interested in best source of Re info beytond the title info, try http://www.dataquick.com/ I love their reports:
"DataQuick is the nation's leading provider of real property and land data and has provided its customers with such data for over 20 years."
[ Edited by omega1 on Date 02/02/2004 ]
Data Quick,
They originaly supplied the trade with MicroFish on all recorded properties in Los Angeles and Orange County. They finaly went onto computer and I consider them the best compiler of Real Estate Information. But, they are expensive. So many of us utilize them indirectly. We get the information from title companys and of course in Los Angeles from Retran who have the best of the best. That coupled with the MLS which lists sales in progress, listing, expired listing and prior sales.
From all this jazz you can rise early in the morning lay out your visits, back them with all information and you are off and running.
Most important always check present time listings in your area of interest, aka Da Farm. You view them with a jaundiced eye but of late properties are selling pretty close to their listed prices. Please do not view this as a True Value, only as a reflection of the shortage of housing.
I think that at my monitor I see everything that I need to know. Of course I try to stay right up to date on actual sales and those are flagged daily.
For example: We will buy a house on a big double lot and pay full market. We will divide off the second lot and sell the house also at present market or even a little below. This gives us the lot.
To do this we really need present time accurate information and that I see each morning before I begin the days insertions.
Work Work a man is like a machine Lucius.
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Thanks guys Dataquick does look like a solid program. I'm going to check into it a little further and will let you all know what I think.
Mr. Jackhammer:
As long as you run two sets of comps you will be fine! I personally use Fastweb backed up with MLS comps.
First American Title company charges me 60% of base rate with no sub-escrow for a title policy. When you are doing volume, this really ads up! They also provide me with free
access for doing business with them.
Also, you want to implement a "farm"
program into your buying system. By working with a title company, you can request weekly farm packages as most
successful investors do. Not only that,
if you are buying a pre-foreclosure and want accurate title, you can get what is
called a "date-back" which will tell if any
other deeds or liens have been put on the property within the last 48 hours.
This is important if you are giving someone "cash for keys".
You might want to check them out.
http://www.Firstam.com. Fill-out an
online application and they might give you FREE access if you start doing business with them. It is better than paying $75-$100 a mos! Ask them for a discount rate on your title policy and always purchase with a binder. When you go to Firstam, click on "Fastweb".
Remember, the key is knowing your
"playing field" and backing everything up with two sets of comps.
Jeffrey Adam
_________________
"The only place success comes before work
is in the dictionary."
[ Edited by JeffreyAdam on Date 02/02/2004 ]
[ Edited by JeffreyAdam on Date 02/02/2004 ][ Edited by JeffreyAdam on Date 02/02/2004 ]