Set the timer. Because once you try to find investment property for sale by following the steps in this real estate investing guide, all you’ll need is 15 minutes. If you have ever attempted an investment property search alone, you may be wary of such a claim.
So, test it out for yourself. Set the timer.
The Real Estate Market
In order to find investment property for sale, you need to have a real estate market (or two) in mind. Maybe you’ve heard about the real estate investing potential of Las Vegas or Miami? Either way, having chosen a real estate market with potential gets step number one out of the way.
If you need to still pinpoint a successful real estate market, there are two steps to this.
Step #1: Research top real estate markets of the year. Learn all about which ones will work for the type of investment strategy you are after: Airbnb, traditional, flipping, etc. This part of your search for investment property for sale could take a long time. But, this guide is meant to aid you in cutting down the time of an investment property search. So, here are a few ready-to-go lists of the best places to invest in real estate. Take a look:
The Best Cities to Invest in Rental Properties 2018
These are the Best Cities for Airbnb Investment 2018
Otherwise, visit our helpful blog (click here) and read up on any of the top real estate markets and choose one. Why spend hours searching for the best real estate markets from all kinds of contradicting sources, when you have a great source right in front of you? It’ll only take a few minutes to choose a real estate market with investment property for sale.
Step #2: For whatever real estate market you choose, check the return on investment metrics to ensure that everything you read about that market fits in with the numbers. A rental property calculator can help with this real estate market analysis. This real estate investment tool can show you:
- Median property price
- Median Traditional and Airbnb Rental Income
- Average Cash on Cash Return for Airbnb and Traditional investment property for sale
- Average Cap Rate for Airbnb and Traditional investment property for sale
- Average Airbnb Occupancy Rate
Don’t have a rental property calculator? Learn about the best one here.
Within seconds of looking at this information provided by the handy real estate investment tool (a rental property calculator), you will be confident that the real estate market of your choice will bring a good return on investment.
Don’t know what a good return on investment is? Take a step back and read: What Is a Good ROI for Investing in Income Properties?
The Neighborhood
The next step to find investment property for sale is to choose the best neighborhood to invest in real estate within the market. This requires a thorough neighborhood analysis. The fastest way to complete neighborhood analysis is through heatmap analysis. Heatmap analysis is a special feature of this rental property calculator that uses a map with color cues to indicate the following return on investment metrics that you need to analyze during neighborhood analysis:
- Listing Price
- Airbnb Cash on Cash Return
- Traditional Cash on Cash Return
- Airbnb Rental income
- Traditional Rental Income
- Airbnb Occupancy Rate
With this in-depth , not only can a real estate investor choose the best neighborhoods with the highest return on investment, but he/she can ensure the neighborhood is right for the kind of rental strategy as well (Airbnb vs. traditional).
Again, within seconds of looking at colors and numbers, you can decide if a neighborhood is worth scouring for investment property for sale or not.
Learn so much more about the power of heatmap analysis in real estate investing by reading “Heatmap Analysis: The Secret to Successful Real Estate Investing.”
The Investment Property for Sale
You have the real estate market. You know the best neighborhood(s) to invest in real estate. Now you need to find the one- the investment property for sale that is going to make money in real estate for you. Continuing from the heatmap analysis you used above, the available investment property for sale will be displayed. The rental property calculator will then show you the following for each investment property to help you analyze the return on investment:
- Price of the investment property for sale
- Size (square feet, number of bedrooms and bathrooms)
- Traditional and Airbnb rental income
- Cash on Cash Return for Airbnb and traditional rental strategy
- Cap Rate for Airbnb and traditional rental strategy
- Occupancy Rate for Airbnb and traditional rental strategy
That’s not all of course. In order to achieve the return on investment metrics above, the rental property calculator allows you to quickly enter expenses (home inspection, taxes, insurance, property management, etc.) as well as the rental property mortgage. This allows a real estate investor to closely analyze cash flow for an investment property for sale.
Now, comparing investment property for sale may take some time. But because with these steps you have already narrowed down the location so much, simply taking a peek at the cap rates and cash on cash return (independently of your personal expenses and mortgage) takes a few minutes only. Then, for a few top choices of investment property for sale, take the time to enter the data and see your unique return on investment.
There. An investment property search complete in 15 minutes. If you had set the timer, it’s going off right about now or better yet, you have a couple of minutes to spare.
Want to try it out for yourself now? To start your 14-day free trial with Mashvisor and subscribe to our services with a 20% discount after, click here.
Bonus: Find Investment Property in Under 1 Minute
Again, set the timer. Because we have yet another way to find investment property. This time it will only take one minute. The rental property calculator we’ve been using to find investment property has a feature called the Property Finder. All a real estate investor has to do is take a few seconds to enter the following information about the desired investment property for sale:
- Miles from the desired city
- Budget
- Rental strategy
- Number of bedrooms and bathrooms
The property finder then returns all of the top performing investment property for sale. All a real estate investor has to do is to choose one. And your minute is up! Try the property finder here.
At this point, a real estate investor has found the investment property and now has to go through the process of procuring it. Because that can take a long time, a real estate investor will be happy to have cut down the investment property search time thanks to this guide and the rental property calculator.
Looking to find investment property close to home? Read: How Can I Find Real Estate Property for Sale Near Me?
