So I briefly had a real estate agent who would give me comps on properties. She did so for 2 vacant houses (both of which I put offers on), but now has taken 4 days to comp a house I am dying to offer on. She refuses to send me recent sales form the MLS for some reason and although I have guaranteed her the sales commission of any house I sell she still is not prompt or helpful.
Anyone know how I can just get access to sold MLS properties? Maybe I am wrong, but isn’t it public knowledge when a piece of property is bought/sold? I feel like this is really holding me back from buying properties. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am going to see another property today and don’t really think it is the best idea to ask the listing agent. :flush
ok, so the realtor called me back and said that she and he baby were ill. Sounds fine to me, but anyone have any suggestions for getting realtors to be fast on the comps? I would hate to lose a deal because I couldnt make an offer fast enough. Trulia has been pretty worthless so far.
I would forget the realtor and go look at 100 or more houses in your area. Learn the property values and you’ll never be dependent on anyone for comps again.
I second what Mike says about getting to know the values yourself- it makes life sooo much easier. I found it very helpful to pick an area that I wanted to focus on, and then learn the values like the back of my hand. It took some time, but now I can spot a deal in this area right away, as opposed to having to go do a bunch of research.
In the meantime, though, you can use free sites that are available online (just be careful, though, as some of them are way off), as well as checking to see if your county has property sale information available online.
spend the money to get licensed, join an Association of Realtors and pay for access to mls. That is what the agent who is graciously helping you has done, with no compensation from you.
MLS info is not public information. It is a database organized and maintained and provided by and to members of a Board of Realtors. All members pay for this access.
In my state I would have to work for a real estate brokerage for a while to get a license. I really don’t want to go that way in my career even though I already took the class required.
This weekend I am going “househunting” with my girlfriend so I should be able to get quite a few done in a few days. Anyone have any advice on what I should be looking for or will I just sort of see pattens over the course of the 100?
On a side note I have a closing date on my first property on December 3rd. It was made fairly clear to the listing agent that I wanted to close faster, but for some reason he seemed to think it would take a while. I am dealing with a bank owned property. What can I do to make things move faster? The closing is all in cash and I just don’t see why it needs to take a month. A few contractors and my inspector are going to be done in less than week.
I would suggest that you try to take in the big picture for each house. Look at the neighborhood; the yard, the exterior, the number of beds and baths, etc. I would not take notes or try to do anything specific. Just get the big picture and the feel. By the time you’ve seen 100 houses or more, you will begin to really KNOW your market.
On a side note I have a closing date on my first property on December 3rd. It was made fairly clear to the listing agent that I wanted to close faster, but for some reason he seemed to think it would take a while. I am dealing with a bank owned property. What can I do to make things move faster? The closing is all in cash ...
Banks are a pain in the rear to deal with. They move like an iceberg…S L O W. Paying all cash? What do they care? They may not have the title yet or have other paperwork issues they are dealing with. In addition, don’t be surprised if they come back and want to change the contract. Just be patient, it will close - eventually!
Ted,
with regards to comps, try the tax rolls, realquest and zillow. You will get a real good feel for the values without wasting valuable time going out and looking at 100 houses. You can get a real good idea of how much houses are selling for per sq ft with the tax rolls and zillow alone. Realquest is a paid service, but it will pay you back 10 fold if you are serious about investing. They will break the sales down over the past 6 months within a half mile radius of the house you are interested in purchasing.
In many states, the tax rolls are FAR from the true value. Here in Ohio, the tax value can easily be 30% off the market value and 30% is not good enough. Zillow is also notorious for being inaccurate.
Propertymanager,
True! In Florida as a rule of thumb you can always tack on at least 20% to the assed value on tax rolls…forgot to mention that in my last post.
10 houses in and already I think I have a much better idea of how to estimate a houses value.
Am I the only one who thinks that Yucky’s advice is absolutely worthless? Even as someone who has yet to close on a house, I still feel my opinion and advice would be more valued and relevant than anything Yucky has to say. I have seen dozens of posts where ALL the following responses are about how worthless your comments are.
an then…
So let me see if I get this. You recomend using services that you acknowledge are not even close to accurate, while bashing (what I now know to be) a legitimate, time-tested method? All I can think is that you post here to promote your paid services. Please leave the advice to people who actually know things about real estate and keep your random blabbering to your website.
Moderators- sorry if this post is meaningless and against the rules, but if I wasn’t intelligent I might actually read this board and believe what Yucky says. Just kidding. Even someone with an IQ of 57 would know better than that.
Both answers are good but you can also use your local property appraiser to see if you can find other comps. Some areas are easier than others to do this. Also you can use Zillow.com. Zillow’s estimates are often not that good but they will list comps in the area with sale dates and proximity to the subject property. These can be very useful.
Remember the MLS does not show all sales. Only those that were listed on MLS. There are a lot of FSBO’s especially these days.