Online Real Estate Research Tools
Did you know you can do a lot of your property research online? I’m sure I don’t have to tell you the importance of doing your homework on a property before you fully commit to buying it. However, you can shave off a lot of the time it takes to do research on a property by doing it online.
In today’s lesson I’m going to share some helpful resources with you that will allow you to do much of your research online and find out what you need to know about a property.
Here are some websites, organized by category, that you can use to do research on properties, as well as a few other useful sites you should know about:
A Great Free Research Tool
Here’s the first resource:
If you’re not familiar with Zillow, go there now and check it out. To see how it works, I think one of the easiest things is to put in your own address and hit Go.
Depending on who you talk to, you may hear different things about Zillow. Some people like it and others don’t. But I think a lot of it depends on the geographic location you’re working with. The data they show can change and I wouldn’t put a lot of stock in their estimated values. But it’s a quick way to find information on a property.
One thing that usually is pretty accurate is information about when the property was last sold and what it sold for, as well as info about square footage, lot size, number of bedrooms, property taxes, etc.
Sometimes it will show what the property was assessed at by the local city or county, which is what the property taxes are based on. You can usually click around and get quite a few details about a property.
It’s easier to judge how accurate the numbers are for a particular area if you have another property in the same area that you know the details about. For instance, let’s say you’re investing in the same area that you live in. You could look up your own home and see how accurate the numbers are. If you can see that the estimated values are way off, then you know not to pay too much attention to that.
I believe it varies a lot by area because they have to base their information on the information they get from all the different cities, counties, etc. I’ve seen in some cases they may be reporting the previous year’s tax data when I know there is newer information available.
The point is, take the info you get with a grain of salt. I probably wouldn’t decide to buy or not buy a property based solely on the data provided by Zillow, but it’s a great starting point. It’s a quick way to get some ballpark numbers on a property. You can also see information about the houses and lots surrounding the one you’re looking at.
One thing I will tell you is that it can only work with data that’s publicly available. So if you’re looking at properties in a really rural area, you may not find much information. Some small towns and rural areas are behind technologically and don’t post this information. But for areas that are more populated, this tool can be a great resource.
In my local area, there are several small cities close together and then the county surrounds the cities. Each city and the county have their own tax assessments, so if you’re trying to find the value of a property, you have to first figure out which jurisdiction it’s in. Then they each have their own websites where you can look up the tax assessment. Their websites are each very different (and difficult to use).
I know it’s like that in many areas. It’s so much quicker and easier to just type the address into Zillow and get some quick numbers.
However, if you’re working in a particular area a lot and that area has a decent website that can give you up-to-date information, you might be better off going that route. But for an area you’re less familiar with or if you just want to get some quick numbers or if you know Zillow is pretty accurate for that area, it’s hard to beat Zillow.
Cyberhomes.com
This site is somewhat similar to Zillow in that you can type in a property address and search and get lots of useful data on it. On the properties in my area that I checked recently on this site, I’ve found this site to be a little more accurate than Zillow.
Comps
These sites are good for giving you “comps” or comparable houses in the neighborhood where the house is located that you’re researching. This will help you establish its value. Zillow can give you comps too, but it doesn’t hurt to try multiple sites for comparison.
Keep in mind that you have to take comps with a grain of salt. They can give you a ballpark idea of what similar houses are going for, but if they’re not next door to the house you’re looking at, they can be misleading. I know in my area there are some nice neighborhoods with houses that could sell for much more than the same house if it was a street or two over. But again, it does give you a starting point.
This site pulls some of their information from Zillow. But when you search for a property and scroll down, you should see other properties that have sold recently in the area and what they went for, which can be helpful in establishing value.
Yahoo
(click Home Values – it should be in the menu at the top)
Hard Money Lenders
When you need to pay cash for a property and don’t have the cash, hard money lenders are a good way to go.
This site will help you find hard money lenders
Appraisal Services
ElectronicAppraiser – You can order an appraisal online
Mortgage Calculators
Other Useful Resources
Craigs List online community – a great place to list your properties or find buyers and sellers:
http://www.craigslist.org
I hope you’ll find some of these sites helpful. For the ones you think you’ll use, save them to your Favorites (Bookmarks) in your web browser so you can find them again later. For that matter, you may want to save this page to your Favorites so you can come back to the entire list. If I come across additional resources, I’ll add them.
Also, if you have some favorite resources, feel free to send them to me and I’ll consider them for inclusion here.
