The Best Way to Find an Income Property for Sale

One of the most challenging parts of investing in income-generating real estate is finding income property for sale. One can employ a real estate agent in the search. In fact, realtors can be a very valuable resource when searching for income properties. They can bring insight beyond what a data-driven listing can provide. However, a realtor is just one of many available resources at one’s disposal when searching for profit-generating income property for sale. Realtors are also generally focused on a specific geography. Their first-hand knowledge of properties and neighborhoods only goes so far in a wide-ranging search.

Related: Real Estate Investment for Beginners: Neighborhood Analysis

One’s real estate network is also a key to finding off-listing income property for sale. Some of the best deals on property can happen outside of the formal sales process. However, this is more akin to hitting the lottery than it is to a formal business plan. Still, putting the word out to one’s network that they are interested in hearing about property coming to the market is always a great idea. And best of all, it doesn’t require any payment or any active searching time on the part of the investor.

Real estate investment professionals looking to find income properties for sale have many other resources available to them. So many, in fact, that figuring out how to find an income property can become a bit confusing. Whether you are buying your first income property, or already own multiple income properties, Mashvisor can help. The site offers valuable tools to make your search more efficient. Here is a step by step look at how Mashvisor can help any real estate investor find the best income property for sale.

Step One – Conducting an Investment Property Search

Mashvisor’s original mission was to help make life easier for real estate investors looking for income property for sale. Finding investment property is more difficult in some ways than finding a personal residential income property for sale. The criteria used to evaluate one’s own home purchase are not the same as those for rental property.

One smart way to start a search for the best income property for sale is to use a heatmap. Heatmaps help an investor searching for a new, condo, townhouse, multi-family home, or single family home sort the available options in a given area. You have seen heatmaps in action during elections. Rather than showing many small hard to understand numbers across a large screen, a heatmap simplifies searches with colors. Mashvisor has heatmaps that will allow you to quickly glance at where the best values for income property for sale are located. Those areas that have the best rates of a selected metric are shown in green. Those areas with poor rates are shown in red.

Mashvisor’s Heatmap Tool

Related: Finding Income Properties By Using a Heatmap

Mashvisor’s heatmaps will help you to narrow down geographical areas with income property for sale that likely have the best return on investment. Once you have found the locations with income property for sale that look promising, find information on the neighborhoods in which these properties are located. You simply click on a given neighborhood and the Mashvisor site will then display a summary of the real estate analytics in that neighborhood. The information shown is very helpful. It includes the median home price, traditional and Airbnb rental incomes and cash on cash returns, and occupancy rates. Mashvisor can even suggest whether a neighborhood would be better for long-term rentals or the neighborhood favors Airbnb properties for sale. Learn more about Mashvisor’s real estate investment tools here. 

Step Two – Narrowing Down the Options When Searching for Income Property for Sale

After you have found which area offers the best selection of income property for sale, it is time to begin using real estate data to compare properties. Your goal will be to create a list of promising income properties for sale and to filter out those that are not as promising. For example, Mashvisor can help you to sort properties based on top-down metrics. These may include your budget, square footage, and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. This type of search will work for you regardless of whether you are searching for an Airbnb or traditional income property for sale.

How much data you want to evaluate when searching for income property for sale is really up to you. One can pull together a list of just a few properties for more scrutiny in person at this point or evaluate many at once. Mashvisor will help you either way. Investors who opt to consider multiple properties can even export Airbnb, traditional & MLS data if they so choose. This puts much of the same industry data into your hands that realtors have access to. Using data this way can be demonstrated by one of Mashvisor’s associates. It’s free to try.

Step Three –Conducting an Investment Property Analysis 

Whether you have created a list of two income properties for sale to compare, or a list of many to evaluate further, conducting a property analysis is your next step. Using a rental property calculator can be very helpful at this point to determine which property will give you the best result long term. Rental property calculators are tools that will factor in many different variables. For example, the cash invested, interest rate, depreciation, and other costs to help you find the most profitable income property for sale. Mashvisor has rental property calculators you can use in your search. To get started using Mashvisor’s real estate analytics, click here.

Related: What Are the Most Important Metrics In Real Estate?

Predictive analytics can also be a very valuable tool. Predictive analytics uses big data from the past to help predict future outcomes. This enables investors to obtain objective information to help guide investment decisions. Mashvisor has predictive analytics tools to help you in your search for the best income property for sale in your search area. To learn more about how Mashvisor’s predictive analytics can help guide your decision, please view our helpful YouTube video on the subject.

Mashvisor is a leading resource in finding income property for sale. We can help investors in every step of the purchase process. To find out more about how Mashvisor can help, please check out our frequently asked questions.