Posted by waynepdx on July 01, 2002 at 22:41:27:
Ron Starr **- opinions on Powerfinder? - Posted by Len(NYNJ)
Posted by Len(NYNJ) on July 01, 2002 at 09:10:14:
I noticed in the archives that you have used Powerfinder in the past, I was wondering what you opinion of them was, and what avenues you were able to come up with to use their info. with?
Ron Starr’s opinions on Powerfinder - Posted by Ronald * Starr(in No CA)
Posted by Ronald * Starr(in No CA) on July 01, 2002 at 21:27:54:
Len–(NJ, NY)--------------
Powerfinder is a database for telephone numbers. There are names, addresses, phone numbers. For businesses there may information about the type of business and their fax number.
They have some general information about the income of people within some area around the location of the phone you have selected. Also the median housing price.
I rarely look at that income and housing price data. I assume that it is just some old census data. Now, it might be from the 2000 census, so somewhat more helpful than if is from the 1990 census. Before I would get the product for that data, I would quiry Info USA very deeply as to the source of the information and how recent it is. Also, what areas is it based on? My guess would be ZIP Codes. My guess is that has little value.
It might allow you to select some general area for studying more closely. However, I would think just driving the streets would more useful to you.
We can look up a lot of telephone numbers. We call property owners–you could solicit sales this way. You could call and talk to occupants–renters or relatives of the owner. We use it to locate resl estate professionals, title companies, and other service provides in an area. For instance, I am now calling people who do yard clean up to get bids on making the yard of a vacant investment house look presentable.
If you want household income and property values, I suggest you consult the US Census data. They also have percent vacant houses, percent vacant rental units, average rents, and other data on houses and properties. This is part of the decentennial census. You can get maps which outline the census tracts. Then you can copy them and put colors on the copies to represent different house price levels, for instance. Might be fun. Going out and looking and talking to people may be better.
SuperPages is good for some of the sames uses as PowerFinder. And it is free on the internet. As are some other telephone directory services.
Good InvestingRon Starr**