Summary
Highlights
The speaker introduces himself as a technologist who accidentally fell in love with real estate. He emphasizes the importance of data-driven analysis in real estate investing, sharing his past mistakes and how he pivoted to a more analytical approach.
The speaker introduces the first five 'real focuses' or key metrics for selecting cities: population growth (20% growth for mid-sized cities), median household income growth (30% growth), median home value growth (40% growth), declining crime numbers (below 500 and declining), and recent job growth using Department of Numbers data.
A live demonstration is given of how to use City-Data.com to analyze population growth, median household income, home values, and crime rates for different cities. Columbus, Ohio is shown as a positive example. The importance of considering cap rates upon investment exit is touched upon.
The speaker highlights the use of Department of Numbers website for analyzing current job growth data, emphasizing that recent trends are the most important. He cautions against investing solely based on temporary job surges like in the oil industry.
The speaker transitions into neighborhood analysis emphasizing the importance of good neighborhoods within good cities. The first real focus of median household income is introduced (between $40,000 and $70,000) and its impact on determining renter base and avoiding delinquency issues.
The speaker goes back to City-Data.com, this time to demonstrate how to analyze areas within a city, focusing on median household income, median contract rent (between $700 and $1000), unemployment rate (no more than 2% higher than the city average), poverty level (below 20%), and the ethnicity mix.
Details on where to download a toolkit (excel spreadsheet and word document) with rules and example cities are presented. Also access to trends presentations is made available. Information about multifamily investing is provided.