QUOTE (BenSanderson @ Oct 13 2010, 12:02 PM) I agree that specialized knowledge of an area and it`s housing data is a tremendous asset, however it should be understood that Ron`s system is not geographically specific. I know the "Southwest Kitchener 1300 sq. ft. 3/2 detached two-storey" segment quite well, but this is only a tiny portion of what we`re looking for. Because we are after the 1-2% of houses that fit Ron`s specific criteria, we must open our nets to include a very large area, perhaps even an entire city or multiple cities.
Hi Ben - I remember a year ago when we left RLG`s seminar in Edmonton that Lynda and I had similar thoughts going on. We ordered yellow letters for Airdrie, Olds, Strathmore and even into Invermere BC (!). I posted ads on every Kijiji website in the province and into Sask as well.... the Olds/Str/BC letters sit collecting dust in my basement currently.
We quickly realized that we could get more than enough prospects by focusing on just Airdrie (we are a pop of 40k 15 min N of Calgary) - in Sept alone we bought 5 houses, and 2 have lease-purchase tenants in already, 1 has a renter (the original owner - we will not rent to own to him in that prop), and the 4th is is c/s and the fifth has been getting traffic.....
Any Calgary leads we get (unless they are truly compelling...) I turn over to others - we are focused on being market dominant in Airdrie, not market average in the Calgary area.
You can either start broad geographics and narrow in, or start small and scale up - one big recommendation is to get your (scalable) system in place first though.
As far as comps go, we talked with our realtors (yes, we date more than one here in a city of 40k and they are aware, but each has their area of specialty and they rarely cross paths....), and a true CMA is a reasonably lengthy process. Comps are fairly quick to do, and recognizing that one hand washes the other (one of the 5 Sept was MLS bank owned) we have an understanding. We definitely (as posted above) try and have our broad filter/ranging done and the underlying deal roughed out well in advance of requesting the comps though.... (try requesting 7 comps in a week on every suspect you have and see what that does to your relationship.....)
Hope this helps - good luck at the course!
My wife Lynda will be attending next week with Maribel Pelcastre from 911 Homes / Edmonton. Look them up there if you get the chance!
Cheers!