Hello all - newbie here. Was wondering where good sources of market information are? I’m talking about written information, not getting it from an agent, etc.
Thanks for all the good information posted here.
Paula
Paula,
Can you be a little more specific? What sort of market information are you for?
Keith
search engines and newspaper sights for one.
I hit google and type in the area plus other terms and start surfing. I also hit the main newspaper sites for the place. Here is a site that will list em for the cities.
Select your state and off you go. I am on a Mac and my Safari web browser gives me a quick RSS listing of those that offer RSS feeds.
Also builder websites. I look for developments and hit the sites. Many times the website will have stuff like “why move to Vegas” and list all sorts of trends and facts.
Many times just googling the city will pop up many websites for that city that show all sorts of fun info.
I use Realtor.com to scan props to get a feel.
Also on the newspaper websites I scan the classifieds to get a feel for rent prices. Craigslist.com and forrent.com are good for this too. ForRent.com is for apts but gives you a quick feel for the area.
I also watch TV. Sometimes on the Trav, food, DiY, or HGTV channels they will have something on a town I am interested in. Never know where you will find a good nugget of info.
You can also see if the city has the tax assessors records online and comb through those.
I’m talking about information about certain neighborhoods and areas, like average price per sq.ft., whether there is a backlog of rentals, lots of foreclosures, avg time on market, etc.
Thanks, evergreen, I will try those. Like I said, I’m a newbie!
Good luck out there.
You might want to try and email a realtor in the area to see if they bite on giving you info.
Through google, I have been able to find loads of data on the area I am interested in. Just takes time 
Depends what area you are in. Idaho is a non disclosure state. Yuck. It means that since I am not an agent I need help. My mortgage agent calls the appraisor that does a priliminary market analysis to prove if I’m in the ball park. It makes investing without a realtor a little harder. I really need to know my neighborhood and the history of sales. Real estate agents will often be helpful. Everyone but my really good friend.
http://www.melissadata.com/ssl/HomeSales.asp
Enter any ZIP code in the USA and see closed sales median price. I compare May 2005 with May 2004 before worrying about the monthly fluctuatuons
great site. It is nice to give an overall picture of an area. Can be a good first step in the investigation process.
I then looked up a zip in Houston that I want to buy in and saw the avg sale was about $55k more than a couple homes I am interested in. I like that.
For me, the best data on the site is the sales number. I just looked up two zips in Houston that I am thinking of and one had 7 times as many sold as the other. This tells me that there is action in the zip and people are wanting to move there most likely. Both zips are very comparable in homes and size.