Expert: Brian Bocchieri - 7/24/2008

Question
Hi Brian,

I am a new real estate investor in South Carolina.  I am having problems finding a good resource to determine how to find an emerging market.  I've heard from the "guru's" to find emerging markets, but not one has explained how.  I have a very tight budget and am looking for my first multi-family investment, I'm just not sure how to go about finding an area to focus on.  My area of South Carolina is in a still depreciating market.  We still don't believe we hit the bottom yet.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Mark

Answer
Mark

Good question, your best source would be your local realtor if you are planning to stay in your local market.  

One way is to find out what is the median home price in the area over the past year or 6 months ( has it gone up or down ) How many homes are on the market in your area of investing how long have they been on the market has this # been climbing flat or going down?  All this information is available to realtors on the MLS ( multiple listing service ) and they should be able to find the information for you rather easily.  

You can also research this info for other markets in the same manor.  Once you have this info you can do your analysis to track the trends up or down.  

Since you are investing in multi family properties you may find that the properties you are looking for follow the opposite trend as the single family home market you need to create your own analysis for your area of investing.  I hope this helps.

Should you have any further questions please feel free to contact me again.

Wishing you success

Brian Bocchieri