With a click of a button, today’s property investor has the ability to search for and find a rental property for sale online. Don’t you just love technology! Whether you’re looking for your next investment to add to your portfolio or a beginner searching for your first property, investing in residential or commercial real estate, or looking for a specific type of investment property, keep reading the following list of 7 real estate sites that proved to be very helpful in conducting a property search.
Real Estate Sites – Trulia
Trulia is very well-known, user-friendly, and one of the top websites for real estate investing. Both buyers and renters use this website to find homes across the US housing market through recommendations, insights from locals, and neighborhood map overlays. Your property search can be as simple or as detailed as you wish. You can type in the name of the area where you’re looking for a rental property for sale, or set your search criteria by typing the type of property you’re looking for, price, foreclosure status, and more.
This website also offers insights about the area you’re looking at. This includes school statistics, crime statistics, comparable properties, and median home prices and values. Even though it’s mainly for homebuyers looking for a primary residence, the type of information Trulia provides is also beneficial for property investors (and agents). For example, if you’re looking for places with a low crime rate to invest in, you can find them here.
Related: Best Places to Buy Real Estate: 5 Cities with Low Crime Rates
Real Estate Sites – Auction
The next website on our list for real estate investors is Auction.com. As you can tell by the name, it focuses on a unique service which is housing auctions. Several types of properties are featured on the website including foreclosed homes, real estate owned (REO) properties, short-sales, new construction, and even commercial real estate and luxury properties.
Auctions take place either online or in live events. A real estate investor can check the website’s calendar to discover upcoming events, their locations, times, and the number and types of properties available. You can easily browse through the auctions (either by area or property type), and Auction.com will provide you with a list of the results and the opening bids.
Moreover, if you’re not familiar with how to bid on investment properties at auctions, don’t worry. Auction.com has created how-to guides that’ll teach property investors the necessary steps to start.
Related: Buying a Foreclosed Home at House Auctions: What Real Estate Investors Should Know
Real Estate Sites – LoopNet
If you’re interested in finding commercial real estate, LoopNet is the website for you. Property investors can become members of this site and search its massive inventory for commercial investment properties (for sale or for lease) in any city in the US housing market. A great feature of this website is that you can search specifically for pre-foreclosures or REO properties for sale that you can buy at a substantial discount.
Another valuable feature that LoopNet offers is the sales comparison in your area of choice. Simply type in your search criteria (address, price, square footage, date of sale…) and the website will give you a list of real estate comps. These are important for a real estate investor to do a comparative market analysis and determine the potential value of a commercial investment property with ease.
Note: To start looking for and analyzing the best investment properties in your city and neighborhood of choice, click here.
Real Estate Sites – Realtor
Realtor is the official website of the National Association of Realtors®. Property investors can search through millions of listings, gathered from over 800 MLS databases all over the US housing market. There’s also the option to exclusively search for foreclosed homes for sale. Additionally, Realtor.com offers the home value tool, which is a great feature for both investors and agents. Using this tool, you simply enter the street address or zip code and you’ll receive a report including an estimated value of homes in the area you’re looking at.
Furthermore, Realtor.com will send you up-to-date listings directly to your inbox when you sign up with their SearchAssist service. This makes it one of the top real estate sites for finding rental properties for sale as soon as they hit the market!
Related: How Do You Find the Best Rental Properties for Sale Without a Real Estate Agent?
Real Estate Sites – PropertyShark
Savvy property investors look at their target property’s records before considering it for real estate investing. The reason for this is that property records contain information about its owner, assessed taxes, purchase price, and square footage – all of those are important information for a real estate investor when evaluating the property. This is what Propertyshark.com focuses on.
The site also allows property investors to search for and find both residential and commercial properties for sale. PropertyShark provides detailed information on the neighborhood as well. This includes recent sales data, demographics, etc. If you’re specifically looking to invest in foreclosures, this website’s got your back. It has extensive listings of foreclosed homes for sale along with vital property information like the amount of the lien on the property and when and where it’ll be auctioned.
Real Estate Sites – Craigslist
Though it’s not designed specifically as a real estate site, Craigslist is still a popular website used by many property investors as a simplistic way to find investments or rental properties for sale. Simply go to the area of the country in which you’re interested in investing, go to the real estate for sale section, and find if there’s anything that suits you. You can make your property search more detailed by typing in “foreclosure” or “Short-sale.”
You can further narrow down the search results by setting the minimum and the maximum price you’re looking for. An additional feature on Craigslist is that it allows users to post their own listings! Thus, it’s not just a great real estate site for finding properties, but also a great source if you’re thinking of buying properties for sale by owner or listing your own property if you’re a seller.
Real Estate Sites – Mashvisor
Last but not least, our list would not be complete without mentioning Mashvisor. You can use Mashvisor’s search engine to search for and find investment properties in any city and neighborhood across the US housing market. What’s special about Mashvisor that none of the other real estate sites provides is that it’s an investment analytics platform. This means it provides property investors with investment analysis for any property for sale they find on the website. Moreover, when you sign up, you’ll have access to insights, real estate comps, and analytics both on the property level and the neighborhood level. This will help you determine how profitable your property investment will be.
Related: Why Mashvisor Is the Best Real Estate Website in the US
Not only that, Mashvisor’s Property Finder Tool and Heat Map are the best out there, designed specifically for real estate investors. Simply enter your city/cities of choice, budget, type of property you’re looking for and, in less than 15 minutes, Mashvisor gives you a list of the best properties in that area with the highest cash on cash return. Other data analytics you can get only at Mashvisor include the median property price, cap rate, rental income, and cash flow.
The best part? These data are estimated for both traditional and Airbnb rentals, allowing you to determine the optimal rental strategy for your target property to achieve a better return on investment. Therefore, Mashvisor provides you with all the data you need to find the best rental properties for sale and, overall, make smart investment decisions.
Final Words
Looking for an investment property for sale in the US housing market? Make sure to check out these real estate sites to find the one that best suits you. If you have a free Mashvisor account, click here to use our Property Finder and find properties in a matter of minutes! You don’t have an account but want to make use of our real estate investment tools? To get access to our real estate investment tools, click here to sign up for a 7-day free trial of Mashvisor today, followed by 15% off for life.
Have you come across other real estate sites that you think are useful for investors? Let us know in the comments section below.