Are you planning on getting into real estate investing and searching for your first property? Or are you an experienced investor looking for a way to beat your competition by finding the best investment properties for sale before anyone else? Either way, you are in need of a tool that does the job as quickly as possible. In the past, the process of an investment property search was lengthy and time-consuming. But, thanks to real estate websites and advanced technologies, this is not the case anymore. So, what is this tool that every real estate investor needs?
Related: 8 Must-Have Real Estate Investment Tools
Enter: The Property Finder
As the name suggests, this is an investment tool that allows you to find homes for sale that are suitable for real estate investing. To be more specific, it finds properties that match your search criteria and that can help you achieve your investment goals. Mashvisor developed the Property Finder so that it’ll conduct the search process on real estate investors’ behalf, saving them months which otherwise would have been spent on comparing and analyzing properties that might not even be worth the investment! This is what the Property Finder looks like:
Mashvisor’s Property Finder
To come up with the most accurate results, Mashvisor’s Property Finder uses machine-learning algorithms in addition to predictive analytics. This makes it able to not only find investment property but also provide data regarding the potential return on investment you’ll get from buying it. So, how does this tool work? The Property Finder is very easy to navigate. Once you get the hang of it, it won’t take you more than 15 minutes to find the best investment properties for sale in any housing market. Here’s a quick breakdown of how to use it.
Step 1: Select the Real Estate Market
The Property Finder uses filtering techniques to enable real estate investors to personalize or customize the search criteria. This is important as, of course, preferences change from one investor to another. You can see the different filters Mashvisor provides on the left side of the tool. And, because every property search starts with the location, the first two filters are regarding where to invest in real estate. Just type in the city of your choice and the tool will then take a look at investment properties for sale in the area and sort them for you according to the best Cash on Cash return expected from each.
That’s not all. One of the best features about the Property Finder is that it lets you search for homes for sale in up to 5 different cities at once! Furthermore, Mashvisor’s tool allows you to set a radius for your search (which only works if you have a single city selected). This second filter allows you to control the distance that you’d like the rental property to be from the city. These two filters are useful to real estate investors contemplating whether to buy properties near them or in other cities. By understanding the results, you’ll see which investment location has more profitable investment opportunities to offer.
Related: Is It Smart to Buy an Investment Property for Sale Near Me?
Step 2: Set Your Investment Property Criteria
How to find investment property that best suits your preference? As mentioned, it’s important for a real estate investor to have criteria for selecting properties. If you don’t, you’d end up with a random list of thousands of investment properties for sale that you’d have to evaluate and analyze. As you can imagine, this will take time and energy which eliminate the whole purpose of the tool. Mashvisor’s Property Finder has important filters to set your preference or criteria and, thus, only find rental properties for sale that are worth your time and investment! The main filters that you will be able to use here are:
- Budget
- Rental strategy
- Type of property
- Number of bedrooms and bathrooms
These filters should be enough to personalize your property search. For example, if you’re looking for cheap investment properties for sale, use the budget filter to filter out any properties that are below or above your target price point. Are you interested in making money in real estate through traditional rental properties or Airbnb rentals? Use the rental strategy filer to set your preference! In addition, whether you want to invest in single-family or multi-family investment properties for sale, you will quickly find what you’re looking for with the Property Finder. Want to give it a try? Sign up for a free Mashvisor account.
Step 3: Understand the Results
Of course, the end results are the most crucial for any investment tool. The results differ based on what tool you’re using. For example, some tools focus on finding homes for sale with the highest rental income while others show properties with low vacancy rates. As for Mashvisor’s Property Finder, rental properties found are listed based on their profitability according to our data and predictive analytics. So, investment properties for sale found on top have the highest potential for returns. Scroll through the properties and pick a good one to analyze!
Moreover, if you find a property that interests you, click on it and you’ll be taken to its Purchase Analysis Page. This gives real estate investors access to another tool of ours: the Real Estate Investment Calculator which provides more insight about the property. Most importantly, you can do more return on investment analysis here and get data on the property’s cash on cash return, cap rate, comparable rental income, expenses, cash flow, and occupancy rate. All of these metrics are important to find profitable investment properties for sale.
We’ve prepared a detailed article on how to use this tool – give it a read to learn more about it: Real Estate Investment Calculator: What It Is and How It Works.
Ready to Find Investment Properties for Sale?
If you haven’t used a Property Finder before, you might not be aware of just how fast and easy it is to actually find profitable investment properties for sale. Of course, it’s best to use this tool hand in hand with Mashvisor’s other tools like the Real Estate Investment Calculator to analyze the profitability of your rental property compared to others in the area. We also offer a Heatmap Tool that helps real estate investors understand the performance of neighborhoods within a city where they’re looking to buy rental properties. When combined, these investment tools will help you make the best investment decisions based on accurate data and real estate analytics. To get full access to all these tools, start out your 14-day free trial with Mashvisor now.