What’s the best way to get a feel for the market? I have MLS access and was curious on what I should learn about my market.
I was thinking of the following;
• Median Home Price
• Monthly Sales
• Foreclosures on the Market
• Pending Foreclosures
What other information should I be looking for?
A local realtor in my neighborhood distributes a report each month. She lists number of homes available currently, home sales last month and no. of months inventory available (basically homes available divided by home sales last month). I put that information in excel chart and that helps me see the trend. Very basic idea and it may not be perfect, but I found it useful.
I think it’s important to understand the job market in the area, if a new company is moving into town that can be huge.
I would suggest not reinventing the wheel. You can spend hours of research coming up with what most local real estate associations release monthly or quarterly already. If you have MLS access you may even be able to find the statistics/demographics/etc you need there.
I usually pay little attention to any of this information anyway. IMO, it’s best to look more closely at the numbers that relate to a property you intend to buy and possibly certain neighborhoods. Running comps is the best way to determine the information you need. Knowing if a new company is moving into town is a speculative bet. It could be a good bet (and most likely would, depending on the type of business - if it’s a business that employs many low income employees, you may not want to bet on the housing market booming when they come to town).
Looking at the generalized market data is not bad, but what are you looking for? If the numbers are not what you want will you not invest? Maybe my “method” is not the best but I could either spend time seeing how well other people are doing in the market or I can do well for myself.