Television shows have made property flipping popular, but there’s a lot more to these investments than buying low and making some renovations. Other people are much more interested in purchasing foreclosed properties and short sales because they like keeping their housing expenses low. Afterall, the majority of people are paying something like one third of their income just to keep a roof over their head. There are investments that will end up being a lot less profitable than anticipated merely because a few small points were missed. Instead of relying on recent home sales and historical data alone, see what other research options are available when protecting your real estate investments.
What Is Important When Researching Real Estate Options?
You can get a lot of information about a person or even a property, but there is only certain information that is going to be valuable to a real estate investor. First, you want to find out how many times a home has been sold before you purchase it. For each transaction, you want to know who was the buyer, who was the seller, and how much the total purchase price was. This can help you to see if a property is going to be more valuable as a ‘flip’ or a rental property.
Knowing All the Details About a Piece of Property
Have you ever stopped to think about everyone who lived in a property before you? With renters, the focus may be on the most recent owners as those parties will be their landlords. If you are going to purchase a home, you will want to have even more information. Using a web-based address search portal, you can get information about previous owners, previous tenants, learn how long each person resided there, and see if there is any other pertinent information available.
Use Research to Find Unique Selling Points
While a real estate investment might serve as a home in the interim, all educated buyers consider future resale value. The price of residential properties naturally goes up with inflation, but some areas experience escalated periods of growth because of desirability. For instance, a home located in a neighborhood where desirable stores are slated to be built will likely go up in value. A house located in an award-winning school district is only going to increase in value as well. When you use address search options online you can determine which investments are good to purchase now versus which properties are expected to be much more valuable over the next five or more years.
If you go to a real estate auction, you will find many homes that can be purchased for as low as a couple thousand dollars. At the same time, buying any kind of property without performing research is a risk. Potential buyers have title and deed searches performed so that they can be made aware of any potential liens or tax liabilities. Do the same with previous owners and address searches so you will know how easy it will be to make money off any real estate you decide to buy.
