Where can I find stats/comps?

General Real Estate Investing
1

Hello Everyone,

I am interested in researching 20+ unit aparment buildings. I would like to know the best resource for the following stats:

  1. comp sales
  2. average sale price per square foot
  3. average rents per square foot
  4. cap rates
  5. vacancy rates for my area
  6. number of building permit aplications for my area

Any recommendations?

2
  1. Unless you work at a commercial broker this could be a little hard to get but some brokers will advertise on thier websites recent sells but all you’re going to get is the sale price you probably won’t get an address or many details on the property. You can also find this information out using any title company. BUt you’ll have to convince them to give you access to their list which you can accomplish through one of the companies title reps. If you do gain access to this use it knowing that it will give you information on resales and refi’s and it won’t differenciate this for you. You’ll have to be intuitive when reviewing the data. When pulling comps try to stay within a 1 mile radius and try not to go any further back than 6-9 months. Obviously the more recent the comp the better.
  2. You’ll need your comps for this but I would recommend trying to get at least 3-4 and doing the math yourself, you can set this up as a form in excel so you just punch in the numbers. Don’t forget to include the appreciation rate for the area.
  3. again you’ll need the comps here too. But just take the NOI and devide by the purchase price. I always use a 30% estimated operating exspense in reality its probably going to be around 23% or so but I’m a conservative guy. I rathter error on the safe side.
    3&5) I would visit the local apartment complexes and simply ask the onsite property manager or call a few property mangement companies and ask them what they’re experiencing in regards to vacancies and where their rents are at. You can let them know you’re an investor/owner looking to buy in the area and are in the middle of doing your market rersearch. Regarding rents you can also get a general idea by checking rental ads in the paper and online, online is probably quicker.
  4. I’m not sure about this one but I would start at the local govt office handeling this for your area. And start attending the city council meetings to begin learning who is who on the council and the mover and shakers in the communinty.

Hope it’s helpful