Thousands of real estate investors have benefited from using the Property Search feature on Mashvisor.com. The question now is: Is it still relevant to investors today?
Table of Contents
- Is Mashvisor Property Search Still Relevant to Investors?
- What Can the Property Search Feature Do?
- Wrapping Up: Is Mashvisor Still Worth Paying for?
And how can it help modern-day investors find the most profitable properties in the right markets? We will answer these questions in this article and address some other concerns investors may have about the real property search platform.
Is Mashvisor Property Search Still Relevant to Investors?
Since Mashvisor was founded in 2014, the real estate website has helped thousands of real estate investors find the right investment properties that align with their goals and match their criteria.
Mashvisor has made investing in real estate not just an exclusive thing for the affluent and well-to-do but has also allowed the average investor to get a piece of the highly lucrative and very expensive investment type. Attesting to Mashvisor’s pioneering and top-quality services, several other similar websites have sprung up over the years and have followed the company’s lead.
What Is Mashvisor?
Mashvisor is an online real estate marketplace that empowers real estate investors to find the best properties for their investment needs. The website is the go-to source for countless real estate agents and property managers searching for lucrative rental properties online.
The platform is especially helpful to rental property investors given its various investing tools. The Investment Property Search feature allows users to easily locate an investment property in almost any market across all 50 states. Mashvisor is known in the industry for its massive and accurate database, making property value search a lot easier than the old-school way of doing things.
The real estate website makes property searches easier and allows users to analyze data much more efficiently and accurately. Close to half a million properties from reputable real estate websites are analyzed, and investors can then use the resulting data in ways that help them achieve their goals.
Real estate investors are always on the lookout for investment opportunities that aren’t too expensive but with great potential to generate passive income. Whatever the market conditions are, investors get a clear understanding of precisely what to look for, especially the following:
- Which properties can be purchased at low prices while generating a positive cash flow;
- Where to find reliable and accurate data and information to use for the property’s income and expense analysis; and
- What the neighborhood’s vacancy and occupancy rates are.
While they can be done manually, it usually takes months to study the market, analyze each prospective property for feasibility, make an offer on a property, and close the deal.
In most cases, investors spend too much time and energy looking into numerous properties in search of that one killer deal. While the result is worth it, the amount of time and money spent on all the other properties could’ve been used for other equally worthy pursuits. It’s like running all marathons across the country and finishing only one.
Basically, the website helps property buyers and investors turn months of research and analysis into minutes, speeding up the process and saving users plenty of time and money.
To learn more about how Mashvisor can help you find profitable investment properties, schedule a demo now.
What Can the Property Search Feature Do?
What makes Mashvisor stand out from the rest is how it makes real estate investing a lot easier for everyone.
Generally, regarding investing in real estate properties, certain challenges present themselves to investors. One, there’s the main concern of finding a good income property. Although there are lots of income properties for sale, the challenge is finding the right property that fits a particular investor’s needs. Even if you’ve already found the best place to invest in real estate, you still need to comb through all the available options to find investment properties that align with your goals and criteria.
And then there’s also the challenge of finding promising cash flow properties that are below market value. Then, you need to find and collect all the necessary data and information on a particular neighborhood to see if it’s worth investing in. It is especially important for both traditional and vacation rental properties as vacancy and occupancy rates in a particular neighborhood matter a lot to their business.
This is where Mashvisor comes in. We’ve listed some of the website’s features that have already benefited thousands of homebuyers, investors, and real estate professionals in their pursuit of finding the right real property.
Search Page
Perhaps, the Mashvisor feature that stands out the most is its search functionality. It may feel like you’re using other platforms like Zillow and Redfin, but what makes Mashvisor different is its filtering feature that is aimed at making property searches easier for investors.
It allows users to conduct basic property searches using its filters as well as:
- Property deed search by address
- Property lien search by address
- Property owner search
The above filters are especially helpful for real estate agents working with potential buyers and investors, as it gives them access to more vital information about a particular property’s history.
To get started, users simply just need to select the location (city, neighborhood, zip code, or address) where they want to buy property. The site will then perform a search and show you all the available properties listed on the MLS, as well as foreclosures, bank-owned homes, short sales, and even off-market properties.
The property search feature will also run down the numbers for users and highlight important data investors might find interesting, such as:
- Listing price
- Address
- Cash on cash return rates for both traditional and Airbnb properties
- Cap rates for both traditional and Airbnb properties
If you want to cut through all the junk, you can easily filter your search results to see which properties promise the best income-generating potential.
To start looking for and analyzing the best investment properties in your city and neighborhood of choice, click here.
Related: 6 Ways to Find Real Estate Investment Properties
Real Estate Heatmap
One of Mashvisor’s best unkept secrets is its heatmap, which is the map found on the left side of the search page. It not only shows you the available properties in a specific neighborhood, but it also serves as an indicator of which areas are red-hot and which ones are ice-cold. It can be done by selecting any one of the following rental property metrics:
- Listing price
- Traditional cash on cash return
- Traditional rental income
- Airbnb cash on cash return
- Airbnb rental income
- Airbnb occupancy rate
Afterward, the page will show a color-coded map that allows users to find properties based on how they perform, given the filter used. Areas colored red mean that properties rank low based on the filter, while green areas are ones that perform really well.
To use the heatmap feature, all you need to do is type in the name of the city in the search field and click on the Search icon. Once there, you can select a filter of your choice on the top-left dropdown window of the map labeled Heat Map Dataset. Choose any filter and the page will show you a color-coded map.
You can zoom in or out using the +/- button found on the upper right part of the map. We also recommend enabling the “Search as I move the map” feature to make property search a lot easier.
With Mashvisor’s Heatmap feature, users can search for a property in their preferred location and filter their choice based on their set criteria, such as listing price, cash on cash return, rental income, and occupancy rate.
For obvious reasons, investors should look for properties where listing prices are low, and cash on cash return, rental income, and occupancy rates are green to get the best possible return on investment.
While you’re searching for profitable real estate using the heatmap, the right side of the screen will show you the available properties in that particular area you’re looking at. You can take a closer look at the properties using filters that matter to you as an investor.
- Cash vs. Mortgage (using a slider at the top of the page)
- Traditional and Airbnb cash on cash return
- Traditional and Airbnb cap rate
- Your budget
- Neighborhood
- Number of bedrooms and bathrooms
- Year the property was built
- Property area by square feet
- Traditional and Airbnb rental income
This neat feature is also very interactive as it updates itself in real-time based on the small adjustments you make in your property search.
Property Analytics
Once you’ve found a neighborhood worthy of your attention and money, the search for properties that match your criteria gets easier. Just zoom in on the map and click on any property to get more detailed information on each one.
The top portion of the page will show you a summary of what you’re looking at, such as the address, the property type, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the lot area, and the listing price.
The bottom part of the screen will show a more detailed description of the property, along with a contact form that connects you to reputable real estate agents working in the area.
Rental Strategy
Another unique property search feature that Mashvisor offers users is the Rental Strategy tab. It shows the property’s viability and value as an income-generating property.
Real estate investors can scroll down through the Rental Strategy tab to see which rental strategy works best for that particular property. Users can easily compare the forecast between using the property as a traditional long-term rental or a vacation rental on Airbnb.
The best thing about the said feature is it breaks down the cost of purchasing the property into one-time startup costs and recurring expenses. It gives investors a better understanding of what the financial aspect involves.
You can use the automatically-generated data found on the platform as it is very accurate, or you can input numbers based on your own research. You may then proceed to the math using the site’s rental property calculator to see if the numbers are to your liking.
The bottom part of the page then shows users how long it will take for you to pay back everything and start earning a profit based on your payment method.
The Rental Strategy feature for analyzing data to figure out the best use of the property is one of the things investors love about the platform.
Mashvisor’s Rental Property Calculator allows investors to compare the financial projections between using the property as a traditional long-term rental or a vacation rental on Airbnb.
Rental Comps and Insights
The Rental Comps & Insights tab is also quite helpful for those who plan to start a traditional or Airbnb business. It shows rental comps or similar properties within the immediate vicinity, along with the essential data needed to make a wise investment decision.
If you’re not yet ready to zoom in on a specific property, the tool allows you to check out the neighborhood first to see if it is a good area to invest in. It is what the Neighborhood Analysis page is for. The page allows users to view the following:
- Mashmeter rating (overall rating of the neighborhood for profitability)
- Median property price
- Average price per square foot
- Traditional and Airbnb cash on cash return
- Traditional and Airbnb monthly rental income
- Number of listings for sale
- Number of traditional listings
- Number of Airbnb listings
- Airbnb occupancy rate
- Optimal rental strategy
- Walk score
Another useful tool found on the site is the Rent Analysis tab, which enables users to see a neighborhood’s historical performance based on rental income. It shows users which months are the best and which ones are the worst for renting out both traditional and vacation rental properties in the area. You can easily switch views between the two rental property types by just going from one tab to the other.
The Comps tab gives users a general view of rental comps within the neighborhood, while the Insights tab shows users the optimal options for investment in the area.
Related: Neighborhood Analysis in Real Estate Investing
Price Point
Lastly, there’s this small matter of subscription rate. Compared to other similar platforms, Mashvisor gives you more bang for your buck. It offers three subscription tiers that are sufficient enough to meet every investor’s needs.
The Lite Plan is the basic plan that allows subscribers to get rental income analysis for individual properties (both traditional and vacation rentals) based on actual rental comps. The monthly subscription fee is only $17.99, which is very affordable considering the benefits.
The second tier is the Standard Plan, which comes with a price tag of $49.99 per month. It can do everything the Lite Plan can and also allow subscribers to personalize their research and discover more profitable properties that match their needs and criteria.
The last tier is the Professional Plan, which takes all features and benefits of the first two tiers and adds the ability to perform bulk searches and analysis. The monthly fee of $74.99 is a steal for such a packed plan.
Mashvisor also offers a free 7-day trial period to give new users an idea of what’s in store for them if they decide to proceed with a monthly subscription.
Related: What Makes Mashvisor the Best Real Estate Investing App of 2022?
Wrapping Up: Is Mashvisor Still Worth Paying for?
As an investor, your seemingly never-ending property search is made a lot easier with technology by your side. While all the market research, information-gathering, and data analysis can be done manually, it will take a considerable amount of time, money, and effort to do all of them. You will need to look at several options, perform due diligence on each one, analyze the data, crunch the numbers, and keep repeating it for all the properties you are considering until you find the one that’s right for you.
The entire process could take months to accomplish, time that could be spent making other equally important decisions. Mashvisor lets investors save time, energy, and money by cutting down the due diligence process to just minutes.
So is Mashvisor still worth paying for? Absolutely.
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.