If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that I have been investing in real estate and real estate notes for some time. I bought my first investment property in 1976. While using the internet might be commonplace to you, it was not common when I first began investing in real estate. Back in the 1970’s, online is where we hung clothes since we did not have a clothes dryer and a mouse was a rodent you did not want in your home.
The internet has changed many things in our lives including real estate and note investors. Through the internet, there is much information that is only a mouse click or internet site away. Today, I want to share several web sites that I find helpful to me real estate and note investing. It certainly is not an exhaustive list, but each of these web sites are of help in analyzing a real estate property. When I investigate in real estate or real estate notes, I want to know about the property and the community where I am investing. That might not be a challenge if I am in my own backyard, it can be a challenge if I am investing in a community that is hundreds of miles away. Here are a few web sites that I find helpful:
Rentometer.com- This is a helpful website to evaluate what might the rental rate for the property. If I am buying the property to be a rental, it helps me determine what my return on my investment might be. If I am purchasing a real estate note, this information is helpful as I always feel good if the mortgage payment is below the rental rate as that makes me highly unlikely that the borrower will not want to make their mortgage payments.
Google maps- When you type in a property address, it gives you the option to see what the property looks like. In many cases, you can drive up and down the street in your “google car” to see what the community looks like. If I am living miles away, it is helpful if the community where the property is located seems like a good place to live. While this can be a helpful tool, I caution you that sometimes the google pictures of a neighborhood can be dated.
Bestplaces.net- This can be helpful site to use to get some feel for the city or county where the property is located. It gives information about employment, population, crime, and other factors. This is especially useful if the property is in a community far away.
Crimereports.com- This is a helpful web site to find out (as the name implies) about the crime in a specific neighborhood or community. Whether you are interested in note investing or long term or short term rentals, it is challenging if the property is in a “war zone”.
Pacer.gov- This government site is helpful to evaluage if the burrower is in bankruptcy. That is particular troublesome because it could develop your purchase of the note. Caution: If you choose to print pages off this website, they do charge to print those pages.
Online property tax records- Look up the property tax status of the property you are interesting in either buying or getting a real estate note where that property is the collateral. You certainly want to see that the property taxes are paid or up to date.
Again, this is not an exhaustive list of internet sites that can assist the note or real estate investor but they are ones that I find particularly helpful. I commend them to you. Please feel free to leave comments on other web sites that you have found to helpful. Best wishes in all your investing pursuits.- -- RL Wall