How I search for property

Discussion in 'Property Information Resources & Tools' started by jaybean, 16th Apr, 2017.

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  1. jaybean

    jaybean Well-Known Member

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    Hi all,

    Someone PM'ed me asking about my approach to hunting for RE. I began replying when I thought, why not post it here for everyone to benefit from?

    Now bear in mind, my strategy may not be for everyone, but this is how I do it so perhaps you might find some value in this.

    Firstly, let me take a step back to a seemingly unrelated topic - parking cars.

    When I'm in a busy shopping centre, or any parking area for that matter, I often see people driving around in circles looking for a spot. I find this analogous to shooting a moving target while RUNNING. In this approach, you need to simultaneously intersect with someone who is about to leave, while you yourself are in motion too. The odds of finding a good spot in this way, in my experience, diminishes.

    So instead of shooting a moving target while running, I prefer to shoot that moving target while STANDING STILL. What I do is I look for the absolute most optimal parking spot, say right near the entrance of the shopping centre, and I sit my car there and signal to the left, REGARDLESS of whether I see anyone actually leaving or not. If I see someone approaching the right row of cars on their way out of the shopping centre, I will quickly signal to the right. Maybe they get in their car and leave, or maybe they're walking to a completely different part of the parking lot. I repeat this process...if someone seems to be heading to the left row, I signal left, if someone seems to be heading to the right row, I signal right. If someone happens to leave on the right, well my signals are already ticking right...so it's my spot. No one is game enough to take it.

    Now I figure if I'm in a row of parking...say 15-20 cars on either side, the odds of someone actually leaving are pretty high. While I'm sitting there waiting, I see cars aimlessly drive by me. Meanwhile, I sit there stress free, listening to a podcast, with relatively high odds of not just getting a spot, but literally the best spot in the parking lot, and on average, I seem to do a lot less waiting than people who are driving around like mad men. It works wonders during say, Christmas, when parking can be a nightmare. It takes an enormous amount of patience though, because everyone in the back seat is always screaming at you to just drive around in circles like everyone else. I always need to tell them "trust me, this works".

    I take the same approach to hunting for RE. I spend hours mapping out EXACTLY where I want to buy. I mean down to the house. I'll have say, 3 to 5 suburbs at any given time, and I'll map out the streets, and then down to the houses I want to target. I'll be on Google Streetview or actually in a car driving around, looking at specific houses, I'm looking at the condition, the shape of the property, inclines, location of bus stops, shopping centres etc. I have a map with houses dotted all over it that I want. I call this my Battle Plan.

    Because I've already done so much research, when one hits the market, I already know it like the back of my hand and I can pounce so fast it makes my competitions' heads spin. The last 3 I bought doing just this. Three...so it seems to work for me. I'd say it's more than just luck. That's not to say you should ignore bargains that show up in your periphery. If an amazing deal comes up somewhere you didn't have mapped out, then you still need to be flexible. So it's a bit of a hybrid approach - one where I'm extremely specific about where I want to buy, but also keeping an ear open for bargains that pop up.

    Now you might say, why would you spend so much time researching and mapping out houses that aren't even for sale and may never even go on sale? By the same token I ask, why are you aimlessly driving around looking for a parking spot? Just like the probability of 1 car out of 30 or 40 leaving is somewhat high, so is the probability of one house out of say 50-80 you've mapped out will go for sale.

    This is the secret to how I'm able to move FAST when one of my target houses hits the market. While people are umming and ahhing about a house and looking up where it is, where the local shops are, bus stops etc, I'm calling the agent with firm offers.

    Anyway as I said, perhaps not for everyone, but this is my approach which I thought some of you might find some value in.

    Long story short:
    • Parking: I find the specific parking spots that I want and I sit and wait.
    • Houses: I find the specific houses that I want and I sit and wait.
     
    Last edited: 16th Apr, 2017
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  2. Peter_Tersteeg

    Peter_Tersteeg Mortgage Broker Business Member

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    Combine this strategy with certain RP Data subscriptions and you can get an email alert when properties of interest go on the market.
     
  3. Anthony Brew

    Anthony Brew Well-Known Member

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    @jaybean

    1. How long do you typically wait for a house to show up in these specific areas?

    2. Would I assume this is when the market is not too hot and you can comfortably spend more time waiting for something to show without worrying about the house prices in that suburb rising unlike in a hot market where you need to get moving to purchase before that suburb has already risen?
     
  4. Ryan23

    Ryan23 Well-Known Member

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    At first I was skeptical but as I kept reading it makes a lot of sense. And realised I have tried to do something similar. Have you had any experience using google alerts?
     
  5. Gockie

    Gockie Life is good ☺️ Premium Member

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    In 2014 was wanting to buy a unit in a certain part of Parramatta but nothing really came up for ages! And I realised prices had moved so much. Was higher 300's, then higher 400's by the time I was looking. So I looked at Redfern. ...
     
  6. dabbler

    dabbler Well-Known Member

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    Ahhhh....so your that bloke that often near gets clobbered for causing tha snarls and car park chaos !

    you must live in a snobby area.....do this at your own peril in many areas ☺
     
  7. dabbler

    dabbler Well-Known Member

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    Most people are living longer these days, but it should take less than 5 decades, maybe 1 or 2 if lucky :p:D
     
  8. jaybean

    jaybean Well-Known Member

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    Haha far from it. If you sit without signals people get annoyed. If you put the indicator on 99% of the time people assume you've seen something they don't see and keep going :)

    I've never received a beep in my life and I live in west Sydney:)
     
  9. dabbler

    dabbler Well-Known Member

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    Oh yeah, there would be ok, traffic is all stuck at Northern rd and Mulgoa roads :p

    Some carparks have one lane in, peopke parking or waiting cause a blockage.
     
  10. DaveyB

    DaveyB Well-Known Member

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    Brilliant
     
  11. Biz

    Biz Well-Known Member

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    Dude, ever heard of park assist? You just follow the green arrows to the parking spots.

    189 car spaces this way --->
     
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  12. JetstreamVic

    JetstreamVic Well-Known Member

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    So you don't drive around a carpark looking at things that rotate every couple of hours, yet you will drive around looking at houses that may change hands once a decade?!

    Can't say I see the logic
     
  13. pjames

    pjames Well-Known Member

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    after some time looking for my future property I decided I needed to organise and manage a lot of data so I built and designed a nice database that has all the details on the re sites along with other details I can get hold of like demographics, rates, distance to beach, town or city etc.. even details like soil type, rainfall, temperatures... it works especially well when you search large regions.
     
  14. dabbler

    dabbler Well-Known Member

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    Well it wont be long and we will just sit there, then get out while the vehicle parks itself, and then picks us up when ready...... it prob wont be too much longer before adopted.
     
  15. dabbler

    dabbler Well-Known Member

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    Do you mean you use your own search system that adds data to what the RE portals provide, or a seperate system ?
     
  16. pjames

    pjames Well-Known Member

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    I just use MS access and make a one table database, you can do the same thing if you prefer to use a spreadsheet. I just enter data for all the properties I'm interested in. I gather data from the listing site as well as sites like wikipedia, real estate data sites and council sites. I might make a column called "rates" for example and put the yearly rates in there if I find out that for the property.

    I was finding when searching I was bringing up the same properties often so now I just keep on top of new listings.
     
  17. VB King

    VB King Well-Known Member

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    I hate shopping centres with a passion, I get irritated just driving into the car park. But once in I get to the rooftop as quickly as possible and take my choice from 100s of empty spots while everybody fiddles about below waiting for that one perfect spot.

    I'll hold an IP forever, but I try to hold onto that parking spot maximum 30 minutes.
     
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