I am a software guy, fairly new to real estate. I’ve done 4 deals and I love the numbers. I simply HATE dealing with the contractors. I’ve yet to find a single one that’s reliable, I end up chasing them all over town, firing them, getting new guys who do exactly the same thing.
I don’t have time to babysit!!!
Anyway, enough of my rant, I wrote some software that takes any given set of criteria (anything that you might search the MLS with) and queries a number of methods, including public records data…
Long and short, what it does is spit out a list of every property matching a given criteria that is listed xx amount below market value according to comps in the area. It’s almost totally automated. I can set it up to do a specific amount (say, $40,000) or a percentage (maybe 20%) and it will produce a list of all the properties that fall in that range.
Now here is my problem. I can come up with 4-6 good properties per day in my city that have good potential. I can only afford to fund about 1 property every 4 months. I feel like I’m missing out!
I could see getting into birddogging for people… no idea how to get started though.
I’m also looking at getting a partner and/or getting investors involved so I can try to do it full time. Finding the deals is the easy part!!!
I’m thinking of doing that, as well. I tried on one real dump about a year ago and lost my shirt. By the time I finally flipped it to someone, I had lost more in holding costs and things (some hidden pipe burst at one point too) than I made in profit. I guess if I count that deal, i’ve done 5, but i hardly consider that a deal. It was a “learning experience”.
Right now, I can’t qualify for much. I don’t even have the reserve funding required to get my 100% loans because everything I have is sunk into this rehab I’m working on and my income has been a little shorter than usual the last few months.
Anyway, enough of my rant, I wrote some software that takes any given set of criteria (anything that you might search the MLS with) and queries a number of methods, including public records data…
Cool! Mind sharing? Or is this specific to your own data/region? I wrote several programs myself that do similar things. Most are in Java - some are web-based and use DHTML/Javascript. One day I’ll convert everything to the web and make it available for everyone, but most of mine are specific to my own data/region.
While we are on the subject of leads. I’m trying to find out what information the birddog is responsible for providing the investor. Reason being is that I’ve had investors tell me that I should get them comps, FMV, and ARV in order for them to move forward on a deal. My thought is if I’m providing all this sort of information then I’m might as well be tie the property up in contract and wholesaling it to them. Am I’m wrong in my logic?
Well, first of all, to the 6 or 8 people who have sent me a message asking to try out my program, it is very finicky. Since the public records databases and MLS stuff is not directly accessable in database form, I have to “scrape” the data from outgoing HTML.
For one, this makes it very tedius to change to fit other states/regions/counties and potentiallly impossible. Especially if there is no public MLS data for that area.
Second, I never spent the time to design fancy code, so the program has me entering SQL and code directly to manage various queries. Once I get things set up for a specific set of parameters, it’s very easy to use, but there’s probably not a way for anyone other than a fairly experienced programmer with some time on his hands to be able to use it.
Right now, it works great in Denver, Colorado including the counties of Denver, Arapahoe, Douglas, Adams and Jefferson.
Since the public records databases and MLS stuff is not directly accessable in database form, I have to “scrape” the data from outgoing HTML.
Same here. Unless you have direct access to the mls data, scraping web pages is the only thing you can do.
Second, I never spent the time to design fancy code, so the program has me entering SQL and code directly to manage various queries. Once I get things set up for a specific set of parameters, it’s very easy to use, but there’s probably not a way for anyone other than a fairly experienced programmer with some time on his hands to be able to use it.
That’s unfortunate. All of my command-line driven programs are parameter based, so I don’t have to monkey with the internal coding. I also have a cron job that reads the data every day and updates a local MySQL database, so I have both current data and historical data for a couple of my housing trend programs.
Also, since I use Java, I can implement interfaces that would allow the program to work in any region with any data. All the user would need do is to provide a class that does all the data mining to my program, and the program would do all the calculations, database updating (which could also be interfaced), etc.
Currently, I have a set of Amortization calculators and a Sub2-to-Owner Financing calculator that are web-based. I need to tweak both slightly, and then I’ll post the URL on this board for all to use (and critique).
What I’d eventually like to see is a collaboration of people building RE investing tools together, whether for-profit or not-for-profit.
The tool was quick-and-dirty. I spent about 2 hours on it, so got basic functionality and nothing more…
I have been considering upgrading it to check each day for new properties but haven’t determined a good way to do it. The MLS numbers seem to be non-sequential on this website for some reason… haven’t found a pattern or a good way to search by “listed date” - it’s somewhat limited functionality (the MLS) as I don’t have access to the full blown realtor MLS.
Hi gang, Well since everyone is throwing around their credentials. I to happen to work in IT, by day that is. I’m not into programming, but I do support quite a few of them as their Network Administrator. Anyway I would like to take a look at your program to see how it can work for me in Texas. I do a little Property Scoutting(aka Bird Dogging) in the Dallas and Fort Worth markets and would really like to see how this app could help me. Shoot if it works like you says it will for you then I’d be willing to pay for it.
I had to hijack another website, but here are two of my web-based programs. The first is a collection of amortization calculators. The second is a tool that calculates potential profit when acquiring a property Sub2 and selling with owner financing. Both are written in HTML/Javascript.
Hey buddy you are right for doing the deal yourself. If you are doing all the work what do you need them for besides someone to wholesale too.
You find the deals do all the work and wholesale it to them. And see how they respond to that.
