is loopnet any good for finding deals? if not, is it still a good resource (ex. finding comps, rents in market, etc.)
is there any good ways to find deals (direct mail, etc) or are we all just looking for a needle in a haystack. im trying to stay with true 10% caps or higher being that we are in a depreciating (or soon to be depreciating market, IMO)
thanks
adam
I work as an Acquisition Analyst for a real estate firm and I have my own properties. My professional and personal use i use Loopnet a lot. It’s great for comps and it’s great for seeing whats on the market in your neighborhood. It’s definitely not easy to find a gem. It takes a lot of looking and analysis. I do agree that a lot of listings have cap rates that are very inaccurate, but that’s what your analysis is for.
As far as direct marketing. It should work, but I haven’t seen it work in SoCal. We have a person in the office that does direct marketing fulltime. So far he had no purchase. i am sure if he was looking in a different market he would have a lot higher chances of success.
i figured, thanks for the feedback, but i definetly will use it for comps, etc
I use it all the time for a few different reasons.
We can run searches of active properties listed by brokers who i know are trustworthy. IN that way, we can estimate currently rental rates, sales prices, and expenses on properties currently listed. You can also use it for limited demographics and trending.
If you want real comps on properties sold or leased, you’ll need to subscribe or buy one off comps. We’ve done that as well and found them to be very accurate.
Many legitimate brokers use the loopnet service and contribute to updating their info.
Overall, i think its a great site.
I like to look at loopnet from time to time just to see what is listed in my area.
The only real deals I have saw on there, there has been a lot of competition for them. I have picked properties and called owners and then followed up 6 or 8 months later after they expired and seen some fairly good deals and motivated owners.
About a year or so ago I found some apartments on loopnet, I thought I worked out a deal with the seller (we signed a LOI), anyway I drove 6 hours to look at them the next day. I showed up at what turned out to be a group showing. Anyway my offer had already been shopped around the group by the time I got there. The whole thing didn’t turn out good.
I had a second apartment deal I tried to do through loopnet and the seller signed my offer and then decided to back out about 2 weeks before closing.
I have always used direct mail to find the best deals. Of course I am looking for Mobile Home Parks, Apartments, and Self Storage for the most part. I did find one deal on Loopnet one time but would not have bought the property if I was not able to talk the seller into discounting his price at least 100k. It seems to me that everything on the Loopnet site is overpriced around at least 50%. That is why I like the direct mail, at least I am able to talk to the owner before they are filled with hopes of great big cash deals that some of the brokers tend to lay on them.
Don’t get me wrong, I do use brokers but only the ones I know I can trust.
Richard Stephens
I have been using Loopnet for a couple years and have had great results in marketing properties for sale. I have not had much luck with marketing properties for lease on it though. Lately I have started using CoStar for searching properties for sale and lease. So far I like it.
T. Patrick Murray, CCIM
Real Estate Investment Team
I have bought 2 deals from Loopnet. I find that once I get the email alert and it is a good property it will be under contract within the day. I immediately tie up the property (only if I truly think it is a good property for sale) and then begin my due diligence. I use Loopnet a lot to gather the competitive landscape when completing my due diligence on any properties that I have under contract and completing my due diligence phase.