The Magic of the MLS (Part 2)

Welcome to part two of our look at the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). As mentioned in the previous blog, the MLS is great tool for staying up-to-date on the most current properties available for investment. Metro DC Real Estate is fast moving and you need a way to track good deals and compare them to other deals. The MLS has a host of information for doing just that.

There are so many properties available on a given day that it can become overwhelming trying to sort them out. Luckily the MLS allows you to screen properties based on your set of parameters, so you can make quick decisions to pursue a deal or not. This can save you time as you can sort out the good deals from the bad ones without having to inspect the property. The information on the screen helps you eliminate potential duds before you waste time. This means that you can potentially be faster than your competition at spotting and making offers on deals.

Think Like an Metro DC Real Estate Rehabber

As you are making quick selection of what you may want to go for and what you are not interested in, consider the potential value of properties. For example, it can be adding a room to make a two bedroom home into a three bedroom home or finishing a basement. Don’t see the properties listed on the MLS simply as “As Is” properties. Think like an investor. Don’t just consider the now; consider what the future could be with the right fix. It’s all about margins and return on investment, especially with Metro DC Real Estate.

Remember not to be too rigid. There are a lot of deals and new ones coming through each day. That all means that you need to diversify your approach. Don’t just select one or two properties and put all your eggs in those two baskets. Be open and flexible enough to take advantage of the hundreds of daily deals that may pop up. This is a numbers game and by limiting your selections to just a few, you could miss out on some incredible deals.

Check Out the Old MLS Listings

As you know, deals come and go on the MLS, many of them never even considered by potential investors. Spend some time checking out the old listings in the MLS. People have been known to skip over really great deals by not looking at old deals. As a property sits on MLS, people may fail to notice it as they scan for the latest list entries believing that only the new listing have great deals. Think about the person who has had their property on MLS for moths and have become desperate. You have a motivated seller and a property no one else is looking at. That is a recipe for a great deal. We will talk more about this and other Metro DC Real Estate tips in our next blog, so stay tuned!