Posted by Devon (Buffalo) on April 11, 2002 at 11:58:59:
I have compared the yahoo real estate comps to the mls and to the recent sales prices of my local paper, and found them to be about 4-6 months old, and missing some comps. Yahoo’s still a good resource though, and will give you a good idea of the neighborhood.
Just my opinion,
Devon
Scook85 - Question Re: Comps - Posted by tim
Posted by tim on April 10, 2002 at 15:38:04:
Hi Steve,
Just finished reading WFQC, and plan to read it at least a few more times. A fantastic course. I really appreciate the sincerity, knowledge and real life experiences poured into this course.
Had a question about comps. Since I have no desire to pursue a realtor’s license in the near future, and do not have state or county on-line access to comps in Michigan, I will more than likely need to utilize a realtor to run comps. (side note: in Michigan, a realtor or agent is required to be associated with a broker to access MLS - another disadvantage).
In WFQC, you touched on primarily using a realtor for running MLS listed properties and submitting offers. In addition to asking the realtor to provide listed properties and submit offers, I will also need the realtor to run comps. This is especially true while initially climbing up the learning curve with respect to determining property values.
As you mentioned, while initially meeting with the realtor, I want to be up front with my goals and expectations. Therefore, I should let the realtor know that I will need comps run as well. Is this the correct approach. Any additional incentive to give the realtor to consistently run comps? Also, how often should comps be run for a newby in the wholesaling business - ie: run comps on every home I want to make an offer on? I’d really appreciate some direction. Please feel free to let me know if I’m out in left field on this. Constructive criticism is good, I want to learn.
Again, great course, I’m excited and inspired.
Thanks Steve
Tim
Title Companies? - Posted by Brad (CA)
Posted by Brad (CA) on April 10, 2002 at 22:52:46:
Find some local title companies and call their customer service department and ask them to run some comps for you. Where I am, they will do this for free, as much as you want, in order to service their clients (i.e. mortgage companies, realtors, etc.).
One way to do this is to call their customer service dept. and tell them your company name (or develop a company name), then have them fax you the comps. Get a web fax if you do not have a fax machine. You can do this at faxwave.com, efax.com or something like that.
hope this helps
Re: Scook85 - Question Re: Comps - Posted by SCook85
Posted by SCook85 on April 10, 2002 at 16:44:23:
Tim,
I can answer this well because when I first started I didn’t know how to get comps online either.
But first I would say don’t give up on finding something online that will help you out. Something like Yahoo’s real estate values can make things a whole lot quicker.
Anyway, when I first got started. I used to have my realtor run comps (one liners from the MLS) and I would have them run everything in a whole neighborhood and I just stuck them in a binder. When I looked at a home in that neighborhood, I would refer to the comps that I already had. Sure they would get outdated, but I wouldn’t have the realtor run comps for me on every single home I wanted to make offers on.
I did a lot of the work myself and that is one of the reasons that I became so intimate with the neighborhoods that I invest in. I had to spend a lot of time in them just to determine the values.
And I would ask the realtor to help you out with comps until you can find another source. If you decide to make a living of this, you may want to pay for one of the subscription services. I personally don’t use them because I don’t need them, but I’m sure others on this site can refer you to one of a couple available. They cost about $800 per year from what I understand, but the information provided is incredible.
Just be honest with the realtor and you will go a lot further with them.
Happy Investing,
Steve
Re: Title Companies? - Posted by Ronald * Starr(in No CA)
Posted by Ronald * Starr(in No CA) on April 10, 2002 at 23:15:42:
Brad–(CA)------------
You are right about this source. It is an excellent source of comparables in CA and in some other states. But there are a lot of states where the title insurance companies or abstract companies or escrow companies do do provide such a service.
New Mexico and some other states are called “non disclosure” states, where the sales price is not made public. No title company comps there.
Good Investing and Good Posting**********Ron Starr***********
Pay Agent for Comps? - Posted by Brian, WI
Posted by Brian, WI on April 10, 2002 at 19:07:11:
Could you, or should you pay to have comps. done.
Again be upfront with an Agent and tell them you will pay them a few bucks(I have no idea what that amount should be so please advise) for the comps. they get for you?
Thoughts/ideas?
Thanks
Brian,WI
Re: Scook85 - Question Re: Comps - Posted by tim
Posted by tim on April 10, 2002 at 18:04:30:
Good feedback. Steve and Devon, thank you both, I appreciate it.
Tim
Re: Scook85 - Question Re: Comps - Posted by Devon (Buffalo)
Posted by Devon (Buffalo) on April 10, 2002 at 16:59:59:
Hello, I too am getting started with the Wholesaling for quick cash method.
I found that my city didn’t maintain comp information either but the local newspaper keeps track of recent property sales (at their website). I needed some comps for another city nearby and found that their local newspaper had sales too. In fact, I was able to copy a ton of these comps into excel, then import them into microsoft mappoint, and now I have a map of recent sales prices. The best part is, the Newspaper’s recent sales include comps both on the MLS and private transactions, and the data is as fresh as 1 week old! The cheapest data source I’ve found besides that is $40 / mo (onlne subsciption) and only has comps as recent as 3 months.
Check out your local paper (metro) and good luck!
Devon
Re: Pay Agent for Comps? - Posted by SCook85
Posted by SCook85 on April 10, 2002 at 19:22:04:
Brian,
If you are buying homes and your agent is earning commissions, then “no”, I don’t feel that you should pay them to provide you with comps. If you are just using them for comps and listings but aren’t buying anything through them, then I do feel that they should be compensated by you for their time.
I hope this helps. Happy Investing,
Steve
Re: Scook85 - Question Re: Comps - Posted by Lisa
Posted by Lisa on April 10, 2002 at 22:05:10:
I’m a little confused… when you say comps, you mean comparable properties and what they recently sold for right? I use yahoo to look up this information. If you go to http://list.realestate.yahoo.com/re/homevalues/
you can enter the address and it will show you the price and date that the houses in that block or 5 mile area sold for.
Is this the same information you are talking about? I’m a newbie 
Lisa
Re: Scook85 - Question Re: Comps - Posted by Greg (NE)
Posted by Greg (NE) on April 11, 2002 at 07:06:31:
Please be aware that you should take the information on realestate.yahoo.com with a grain of salt.
I entered in the the address of my personal residence and imagine my surprise when my exact address came up as one of the comps showing it had been purchased on 01/21/01 even though I have lived in the home since it was built in 1991 and have not refinanced it.
Greg