Researching: What FREE or Cheap websites / programs do you use?

Hi all,
Just trying to find out what main websites or cheap programs do use for your researching to make an Informed decision on a particular property? The ones you can genarally hope is accurate and able to cross-check with other data? Also sites that gather their data from reliable sources. Would prefer the experts to chime in here!

For example i use the following (remembering i try and cross check at all times) I also am not linked to any of the below - couldn't care less if you use them or not:

Realestate.com.au: apart from looking at a particular property -
'Invest' section to locate areas of interest based on yield, median house price, hotmaps, good for initial suburb sourcing.
'Sold' section - current comparable sales
'Rent' Section - current rental prices

http://house.ksou.cn/: - sales history of particular property and ones close by
http://www.sqmresearch.com.au - Vacany Rates, and Vendor sentiment (almost live stats on market movement) (trends). Vendor sentiment updated weekly , not sure on vacancy rate.
http://www.yourinvestmentpropertymag.com.au/ - monthly median price data based on 'suburb' not post code, updated monthly (trends)
Xero- Online accounting linked to bank accounts for bookeeping, mobile app as well.
Property Chat- networking, peoples thoughts on anything IP, using the 'search' function to see if any talk on a particular suburb.
Facebook - to search for student photographers (or anyone) in a suburb to take photos for me if i can't get to the property myself, also when i don't trust the selling agent giving me all the info - i have them attend and get me on the phone
Dropbox- uploading large files, i.e. photos for any property, file sharing
Propertyinvestmentcalculator program - cheap and excellent for keeping track of portfolio, but also i use it a lot for making up different scenarios, i.e best and worst case, reno's etc
Microsoft excel - some jobs its just easier doing a quick spreadsheet. i.e listing materials for reno and cost. (Easier to get away with at work!)
google street view and maps - get an idea of surrounding houses, although not up to date.
'Genius Scan' mobile app - scanning bills, receipts etc on the fly ready for tax time, can be emailed and also seperated into different properties. Use this for personal receipts/ bills too.


I know i use a lot more, but can't think of them as they are not on my toolbar or phone

thanks in advance.

 

I also use:
- http://www.onthehouse.com.au to get the sale history.
- http://www.oldlistings.com.au to get the rental history.
- http://www.refindhouseprices.com/ to check the sale price changes.

 

What about the premium subscription of: https://www.realestateinvestar.com.au or PriceFinder ?
has anyone found it useful or not realy as personal investor tool ?

 

I found pricefinder useful.

 

@larrylarry How is it compare to RPData premium or APMresearch ?

 

I have not used rpdata but from reading friends reports they have similar data. I only really used pricefinder because I get free access after subscription to API. It's so important to be equipped with information before even inspecting properties and not get hyped by agents.

 

PriceFinder is quote expensive mate.

So how did you get the discounted subscription from API mags ?

 

3 months free subscription after subscribing the magazine and recently found a property. Pricefinder was pretty helpful. Looks like I need to use the remaining time to do plenty of research for the next one.

 

FULL DISCLOSURE: I work at Domain and helped build this. My apologies if this post is unwelcome, but it seems on topic for the thread and may be helpful.

I work at Domain and we have just launched a new completely free property research tool:
http://www.domain.com.au/property-profile/

It is available on website and in the Domain iOS and Android app.

For features, we have a description page here:
http://www.domain.com.au/product/home-price-guide

If you have any ideas or suggestions for what we should do next to improve the tool, please use the feedback links within

Thanks.

 

@Chris1: when I select the location the keyboard doesn't present correctly. It's vertical and on the right of the screen and isn't useable.

Running iPad iOS8.4.1

 

legislation.nsw.gov.au

maps.planningportal.nsw.gov.au

Insert local government area website.

 

Great thread here.

I'm wondering if anyone is interested in using an all-in-one website that can incorporate all of the below?

My biggest frustration is the amount of time it takes to research property and to analyse if the deal is a worthwhile investment.

I'm looking for or thinking of creating a website that can access all the data for a property and generate a report to tell me if it's a good investment based on my criterias. Is there anything out there like this? or does anyone want something like this?

 

@Chris_1 what happened to the hetmap that was on domain. Is that still available?

 

@tyrone, I find the "Property Investment Calculator"' http://www.propertyinvestmentsoftware.com.au/ is excellent for this , such as analysing deals and different scenarios including reno's, anything. The only difference is that you pull the data from various websites above and input those on the calculator. Its program is cheap as chips IMO too (unless price has changed last few years). I also use it to keep track of my portfolio and 10yr projections. I highly recommend it.

 

there is one on realestate.com.au

 

Thanks for this thread
Andrew H
that is a load of really interesting sites!!

 

I have a list of useful free sites on the back of my website - some not posted above.

http://www.precium.com.au/links/

 

also I still quite like residex's free suburb reports

http://www.residex.com.au/free-report

 

Hey Chris

Thanks for sharing this with us very cool. Couple of things for Domain.

1. Can you can create a search function to separate auctions and private sale?
2. You should force people to put in the size of the property into the listing ( otherwise the size filter is useless)
3. Create a filter to remove all new developments to just find existing housing?
4. Price - i think it should be mandatory to put in a displayed price range at the very least so people looking have some sort of idea what range it is.
5. Sold properties - properties which have sold should be updated. I find a lot of listings just hang around on Domain so that real estate agents can just collect numbers. Personally I would rather know if the property has sold so I don't waste time trying to research it only to find out it has already sold.

for your app/ price tool- couple of things

1. Take updated photos from google maps for street view - as the property changes over time
2. Allow people to update/ review their valuations i.e. like submitting a property valuation report etc.
3. Show property size information.

 

On the house has changed, not for the better in my opinion.
Can't see some data that was previously there.