In order to be successful as a real estate investor in Richmond, you must learn how to find good real estate investment properties. The first step of that process is knowing where to start your search. As you may remember, in my last blog post I taught you about the four stages in the evolution of a real estate investor. Where you fall in those four stages will determine where you need to start looking for investment properties. If you fall in the first two stages—in other words, if you are a bird dog or a wholesaler—then you need to look for investment properties in areas where other investors are buying properties. The reason for this is simple—as a bird dog or wholesaler, YOU are not going to purchase a property yourself, so in order to make money, you need to have other investors lined up who will purchase properties that you locate. Investors will be much more likely to purchase properties in areas where they have already bought another property…so, although it may seem counter-intuitive, the best place to find good investment properties is in areas where there is already a lot of investment activity. One great resource to use to find these areas is listsource.com. Using this tool, you can search public records for properties meeting certain criteria (for example, single family homes with 1-3 bedrooms) that have been sold for cash in the past three months to someone not living in the property. In most cases, this person will be a real estate investor. Locate the top zip codes in the Richmond area where investors are currently buying properties, and that’s where you should start your search. Now, on the other hand, if you are in stage three or four of the evolution of a real estate investor, you can start looking for properties wherever you want. That’s because YOU’RE the one buying the property, so it doesn’t matter whether anyone else in interested in it. However, unless you are experienced enough to have a good sense of what is and is not a deal (in which case you probably wouldn’t be reading this blog post), I would still recommend starting your property search in areas around Richmond where other investors are buying properties. You may be wondering where RVA Property Solutions buys most of our properties (especially if you are interested in becoming one of our property locators). Due to the construction of Rt 288 in the last decade, that area is experiencing a lot of economic growth, which is an ideal situation for a real estate investor looking to buy and hold properties. So, if you locate a good investment property in that area and let us know about it, we will likely buy it (and give you a commission for referring it to us).
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