Many investors make decisions on properties without doing their do diligence in regards to real estate comps.  Obviously,  the more recent a real estate comp is, the more valuable it is to us in terms of establishing market value. It also goes without saying that a property that is listed for a certain price is not a comp. Listen guys, the key is what things have actually sold for, not what they are currently for sale for. After all, the listing price is just someone’s best guess as to what a property will bring.

A comp is an actual sale that shows what a real buyer getting a real loan has paid in that neighborhood.  Where you have a good supply of comps, your job on establishing market value is much easier. InvestorCompsOnline can provide you with the most current and reliable comps available.  Given this information you can make confident moves concerning any property(ies) that you have been researching.

Basically, in using the real estate comps, you will be doing a comparative market analysis. This is just comparing other properties, with recent sales, to the property that you are considering purchasing, or getting ready for sale. Adjustments are made for condition of the property, square footage and features etc. Remember, you will have a stack of recent sales in front of you. You will thus know the square footage, number of bedrooms and baths.

Again, taking advantage of your InvestorCompsOnline account, do your proper research, thus using the real estate comps effectively helps to make for sound investment choices.  Like I always say you make your profit when you buy! If you buy right!

When researching real estate comps and scouting neighborhoods for profitable deals,  it is wise to consider the total number of foreclosed homes in the area.  Unfortunately guys, foreclosures can lower the surrounding homes’ value by at least 27%, according to a report from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) economist. By having an increased housing supply in an area and having the banks and lenders needing to unload the foreclosed property, home values are noticeably driven down.  InvestorCompsOnline is a excellent tool to find out what the true real estate comparables are for the homes you might be considering.

MIT and Harvard conducted the study by looking at over 1.8 million homes which were sold in Massachusetts in the last 22 years. By studying the data, they were able to deduce that foreclosure (as opposed to a deceased homeowner or declaring bankruptcy) could reduce a surrounding home’s value (even if the owners are far from facing foreclosure.)  Death and bankruptcy can lower the value by less than 7%,  as opposed to the previously stated 27% that foreclosures cause. Because foreclosures often mean deteriorating and dilapidated conditions, the surrounding homes are affected as well. They make the neighborhood look bad and unkempt.

Also, because foreclosed homes are sold quickly and at a steep discount, this affects the home’s values as well. The home prices of the surrounding homes are taken into consideration when determining its value.   This study even identified a phenomena which causes foreclosures to cause other foreclosures. 

Use your InvestorCompsOnline account to be sure you are accurately accessing the value of your future deals and don’t get caught holding the bag in this foreclosure increased society.

The BP Oil Spill is an environmental disaster and a serious blow to many businesses and families along the Gulf Coast.  In that same token business and property owners along the Gulf Coast, particularly in Florida, are being significantly affected.  Unfortunately, people planning to build family properties in Florida are beginning to reconsider as the massive oil slick spreads across the Gulf of Mexico. It is a serious blow to the state’s hard hit real estate industry which had been showing signs of recovery.

It is also hitting the holiday home sector with tourist numbers down because potential visitors are being put off.  Many stalled projects generally are second or vacation homes on the water but also include primary residences, homebuilders and suppliers say.  Several homebuilders reported one to three delayed projects because of the oil slick just as new construction was beginning to make a slight recovery.  Many also report a halt in construction since the crisis began.

New home sales that were beginning to improve earlier this year have slumped since the oil rig, Deepwater Horizon, exploded and began gushing oil off the Louisiana coast in April.  Business is at a standstill because no one knows what is going to happen, according to Darrell Day, president of Dayco Construction. There is uncertainty over where the oil will land, how it will be handled and what federal regulations will follow, he added.

The oil spill is also likely to affect local property values, according Rick Harper, director of the University of West Florida’s Haas Center for Business Research and Economic Development.  Second homes are most vulnerable because the value is linked to the ability to lease the property when not in use. BP has already paid out $183,602 in claims for losses in Florida. About $11,722 of that has been paid for losses to total real estate sales.

But it is not just property along the Gulf coast that is affected.  Additionally many worry that the effects of the oil spill is attributing to the overall decline in real estate sales which is 20% lower than last year in this region.  Let’s continue to keep the people of the Gulf Coast states in our prayers as they continue to face this crises in the near future.

For many people be it for business or personal Twitter is and has been a valuable tool.  More recently, a lot of discussion has started to focus on social media ROI, that is, your return on investment.  As you research real estate comps and utilize your InvestorCompsOnline account to grow your business,  I believe Twitter will benefit you greatly!  However, you might be logging hours online, updating your statuses and sending tweets, but what are you getting in return? Do you know?

Before you even begin to think how to measure ROI, the fact remains that if you are not providing quality content to your followers, a million tweets isn’t going to get you much in the way of business.  Are your followers being engaged? Are you providing quality information? Are you prompting them to respond or giving them some sort of call to action? Once you can answers these questions with a resounding “yes,” then it’s time to start tracking your results.

Here are four ways to measure your ROI and see if it’s where you hope to be, according to Twitter.com:

• Keep a tally of questions answered, customer problems resolved and positive exchanges held on Twitter. Do the percentages change over time?
• When you offer deals via Twitter, use a unique code so that you can tell how many people take you up on that Twitter-based promotion. If you have an online presence, you can also set up a landing page for a promotion, to track not only click-throughs but further behavior and conversions.
• Use third-party tools to figure out how much traffic your websites are receiving from Twitter.
• Track click-throughs on any link you post in a tweet. Some URL shortening services let you track click-throughs.

Take advantage of all the free marketing that Twitter can provide.  Adding to it your knowledge gained through your InvestorCompsOnline access will equal business success!

We are all familiar with various marketing techniques but I wanted to focus in on email marketing and all the positive aspects of it.  Many of us use snail mail for our business(es) without giving it much thought.  I wanted to mention what I think are the top 5 reasons to explore the world of email marketing.

Many investors only use real estate comps to determine which properties they should pursue.  And while InvestorCompsOnline can most certainly be an assist in that quest,  we wanted to also help by discussing ways to market those properties you find.  When we are shown a sometimes infinite amount of consumer directed messages daily,  I feel email marketing is still one of the most effective tools…Below I have listed what I feel are the most promising reasons for taking advantage of this particular style of marketing.

1. The ability to target a certain group of people.  Meaning you can send the right message directly to the right people based on their preferences, local market conditions and other factors. You can build one main list, then divide it by geographic location, marital status, gender, age, income, time of year, etc. It eliminates a lot of the guesswork for you thus making it more efficient.

2. The opportunity to actively engage your readers.  Your real goal is to build a relationship with a broader base of prospects so they think of you whenever it’s time for them to do business. Email marketing allows you to do that by bringing them community and market news, current mortgage rates, and other timely tips on a regular basis. It’s a positive way to engage them, and to keep them engaged.

3.  Email marketing has very little up-front cost, allowing you to market effectively without having to stop your core business work for long periods to get it done.

4. Not being intrusive is very important. Email marketing doesn’t interrupt a prior activity to deliver a message,  the way television or radio commercials, or especially telemarketing calls seem to do. Opening e-mail is the activity your customers and prospects are engaged in when they see your message. If you’ve done a good job of building that relationship, they’ll actually look forward to seeing what you have to say.

5. Email marketing really works. According to the DMA’s research, e-mail marketing generated a return on investment of $43.62 for every dollar spent on it in 2009. You’re unlikely to find that kind of ROI out of any other form of marketing or advertising. That, of course, is the best reason of all to launch an e-mail marketing campaign.

Done correctly, e-mail marketing allows you to become (and remain) visible to your customers and prospects with highly-targeted messages at a minimal cost. All while delivering outstanding, measurable results.  I encourage each of you to explore the benefits of email marketing and all the opportunities it can afford you!