Wholesaling ?? You Best Know Your CURRENT Market Values ! by Mik Cohen

I can't emphasize, enough, about the importance in knowing the property values in the areas where you choose to conduct your real estate investing business.

Too many times, when I first started out, I'd get a house under - what I thought was, an amazing contract price.
I'd be, totally, stoked about my ability to negotiate a great buy AND the "fact" that I was about to make my $$ !
All I had to do was market and I'd find my buyer, right ?
Wrong - because I'd be marketing a price that wasn't the amazing price I thought it was.....and all my hopes and dreams, along with the "fact" that I was going to get paid - got trashed. 


Why ? Because I didn't take the time to educate myself on the current market prices. 

Marketing is ALWAYS key - but price is king and keeping pace with this 2011 market is critical. 
More factors affect property values, than ever before - like: Unemployment, job loss, pay cuts, ARMs, property DE-valuation, stress and other crap.

It all contributes to an unstable real estate market that is changing, sometimes, weekly.

You'll spend LOTS of time to find, research, walk-through, negotiate and flip - a property.
NOT knowing your values will make it ALL a waste of your time, energy and sanity.

Know your markets based on the previous 2 months values - 
Anything over the previous, 3, months values is garbage - in MY opinion.
You also want comps that are REAL close to your subject property - no more than a mile away, if possible.

Also - while it's great to have real comps - like similar square feet, bedrooms, baths, etc - knowing all the sales, overall, as well as how many properties - in the area, are still for sale, how long they've been on the market, what their original list price was, what the current list price is, how many are short sales, REOs, "traditional" and everything else, will also serve you well. 

By identifying AND using all your, local, available resources, including your area MLS (Multiple Listing Service), you'll have as best a window, to current values, as possible - will which will make all that time spent, "worth" while.

Remember, there's nothing worse than locking that house up, under assignable contract, only to realize that you can't find a buyer to assign it to.
Don't be "THAT" guy - or gal.