| Free
data sources?
One
of the costs of doing business as a foreclosure buyer
is purchasing the foreclosure data records themselves.
In perspective, this cost is relatively incidental to
the big picture and huge profits most investors will make,
using this data.
Quality
pre-foreclosure data services will charge you between
$50 and $150 per month, for a subscription to their data.
Their data will be made available to you on a daily, weekly
or monthly basis, depending on the frequency of their
publishing and the cycles of recording at the local County
Recorders Office.
While
these fees are usually more than fair, you may be able
to obtain the same data, from your local title insurance
company.
If
you have a professional relationship with a local title
insurance company, they are usually pleased to provide
you with FREE customer support. This can include providing
you with the current foreclosure data records, or a compiled
data file containing all of the sales comparables (comps)
of properties within your local area for the past 12 months.
Contact
your title company's customer service department and ask
for their "farm person". This is the person
that typically prepares and compiles data lists for local
real estate agents (mailing lists, historic data lists,
etc.).
The
Shark Bait Help instructions on Importing Sales Comps
explains which data fields are required for Shark Bait's
comp purposes, and what format the data needs to be compiled
into.
You
may also contact a local real estate agent. Try to find
one with good computer skills, beyond the basics that
most agents have. Most agents only know how to log on
to the MLS, do their search and print it out. Offer to
the agent your pledge to give them all of your listings
to sell the foreclosure properties you intend to purchase,
in exchange for their support in providing you with sales
comp data from the MLS. They help you on the front end,
and you help them on the back end!
If
the agent is reluctant, or suggests that providing you
with data is against the MLS rules, don't argue. Just
find another agent, more savvy, and more willing to work
with you. There is nothing wrong with their supplying
you with this data, it happens everyday. Remind them that
they are effectively providing you with MLS data when
they either hand you a property listing, printed handout,
or an email with listings and detailed property information.
That's MLS data, just not the entire MLS database.
Be
a shrewd foreclosure investor ("shark") and
surround yourself with a shrewd team of professionals,
willing to work with you on an ongoing basis. This is
how the real pros do it!
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