Researching Equity when Wholesaling Real Estate

Simple question in evaulating a wholesale deal you need to know if a potential property has equity, and if it does how much does it have.

The information is publicly available, apparently as stated by the HMDA (Home Mortgage Disclosure Act).

The question…

Where do you find this information [equity] on a given potential subject property?

Determing a property’s value isn’t difficult. You can start with a search online with any number of free websites for a general overview. There are sites that provide more detailed information that will charge a nominal fee. You should also try befriending a local Realtor, who can provide you with sales data in exchange for you providing them with listing leads. Likewise, any mortgage broker can provide you with same.

I am not not this answers our Equity research question.

To your case, it is true that there are many sites out there that will give you information on properties for free.

Information such as owner name and contact information, location, annual taxes, photos, square footage, purchase history and such details but you never get information on how much is currently owed on a property or is there 2nd a second mortgage on the subject property. Or to the point of our question how much equity is in a property.

lucidrei

Good to meet you

When determining value look at the following

• Built Within Five Years of the Subject Property

• Located within One-Half Mile of the Subject Property (the closer the better)

• Similar Square Footage, within Fifteen Percent at the Most, Either Higher or Lower – So if the subject property is 1,000 square feet, look for properties between 850 and 1,150 square feet.

• SOLD within the Last Six Months – The closer to the current date, the better, to most closely reflect the market value. This factor is extremely important. Understand that certain months create higher values than other months. The rule of thumb will be that the months between May and September will afford the highest value and between Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day, the lowest value. If you’re in a market where you have had a sudden downturn in pricing, shorten your time to three months or less. Also make certain that an active listing isnt lower then your sold comps. If so then you have to factor it into the mix. When you see a really low comp throw it out as there are other factors involved… Could be from a great investor purchase and shouldn’t be used.

• Same Number of Bedrooms and Bathrooms – If this is too limiting—no comps come up in the search—go plus or minus one bedroom and plus or minus one-half bath, and mentally adjust the sale price a few percent higher or lower to account for the difference. The other amenities, like a fireplace, garage or a pool, will vary so much from property to property that exact comparisons are unlikely, so you have to mentally adjust the sale price a bit for these as well.

• Similar Type of Structure – Some property profiles will show a structure type and some won’t. If you cannot tell the structure type, make a note on the profile to find out later, probably by visual inspection. If two seemingly comparable properties have wildly different sale prices, the structure type could be the reason.

Michael

Great to meet you

Great details for understanding how to do your comps (comparables) to see if a subject property is a good potential deal or not, but again the question lies in the subject matter of EQUITY and not on how to do a wholesale deal.

How do you find out how much equity is in that subject property? Where do you go to find such information??

OR

In other words, how much has already been paid on the mortgage of the subject property and how much is still owed???

Subtract the payoff of all liens from the value of the property then subtract the cost associated to resell the property.

If you use an escrow company to purchase they will send the lender a payoff demand. However you can also request that information as long as you have an authorization to speak to the lender on file or the borrower has called in and authorized you to speak to the lender… Verbal authorizations tend to only last 24 hours.