Out of all of the steps of investing in real estate, finding real estate residential income properties is the most important. One reason why is the finality of the matter. When investors buy an income property, they are bound to the property’s location, type, size, and so forth for as long as they keep the property. And if they choose a bad income property, they may even struggle to sell it! Clearly, there is a heavy weight tied to the process. As a result, real estate investors need to use the most effective investment property search methods.
Related: Investing in Real Estate for Beginners: 5 Steps
So, what’s the best way to find residential income properties for sale? With Mashvisor’s real estate investment tools! Mashvisor’s assortment of tools uses the most up-to-date data and predictive analytics to help you with finding income properties. In this blog, we’ll walk you through how to find real estate residential income properties with Mashvisor.
Mashvisor’s Metrics for Finding Real Estate Residential Income Properties
To understand how Mashvisor’s real estate investment tools work, we need to review basic real estate metrics. Mashvisor uses these metrics when finding and analyzing rental property. With this data, investors can find the best income property for sale.
- Location: Mashvisor analyzes housing markets all across the US, right down to the neighborhood level. This ensures that you find the best places to invest in real estate in the US housing market.
- Property price: The rental property price refers to its purchasing price, not its fair market value. Mashvisor helps you find investment properties for sale in your budget.
- Rental strategy: Mashvisor allows real estate investors to find income properties for both a traditional, long-term rental strategy and an Airbnb, short-term rental strategy.
- Property type: Interested in a specific type of investment property? Mashvisor’s search engine can help you filter out what you’re looking for. Examples include single-family, multi-family, townhouse, and condominium properties.
- Rental income: For every property listing, Mashvisor projects its monthly traditional rental income and its monthly Airbnb rental income.
- Property expenses: Using rental comps and predictive data, Mashvisor provides reliable estimates for various property expenses, such as maintenance, utilities, closing costs, and more.
- Cash flow: One of the ways that Mashvisor projects profitability is through cash flow. Cash flow is the difference between rental income and rental expenses. This calculation is done automatically for you to help you find positive cash flow properties.
- Financing costs: Mashvisor also takes into consideration various financing costs, such as mortgage payments. Enter the needed information (down payment, interest rates, etc.) and you’ll be sure to find the right investment property for your financing method.
- Cap rate: One return on investment (ROI) metric Mashvisor uses is the cap rate. Cap rate estimates ROI regardless of property financing and it is best suited for comparing rental properties. It is calculated by dividing net operating income by fair market value. Mashvisor provides this data to help you find high cap rate properties for sale.
- Cash on cash return: Another ROI metric, Mashvisor calculates cash on cash return as annual pre-tax cash flow divided by total cash invested. Having this data will ensure you find an investment property with good cash on cash return.
- Airbnb occupancy rate: For Airbnb rentals, Mashvisor calculates the Airbnb occupancy rate for you by dividing the number of booked nights by total available nights. It is calculated using Mashvisor’s data taken from real rental listings pulled from Airbnb. This data is also verified using data from real Airbnb hosts, so you can rely on it when trying to find rental properties with a high Airbnb occupancy rate!
Related: What Airbnb Occupancy Rate Can You Expect in 2020?
Mashvisor’s Tools for Finding Real Estate Residential Income Properties
Mashvisor offers a few different tools for finding real estate residential income properties. Among them are the heatmap analysis tool, the investment property search app, and the income property calculator. Each tool has its unique purpose for finding income properties. Let’s take a closer look at each one.
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1. Heatmap Analysis Tool
Before you start searching for income properties, you must find a good location with properties for sale. In other words, you need to conduct a real estate market analysis. Without the proper tools, this can take several weeks. With Mashvisor’s heatmap analysis tool, however, it only takes a few minutes!
A heatmap analysis tool, also known as a real estate heatmap, is a tool that presents location data in a visual form. Just like the heatmaps used by weathermen, a real estate heatmap presents data in a color-coded form. Mashvisor’s heatmap analysis tool is the perfect tool for learning where to buy real estate residential income properties. It will analyze a neighborhood in terms of vital property metrics. These include:
- Listing price
- Traditional and Airbnb rental income
- Traditional and Airbnb cash on cash return
- Airbnb occupancy rate
2. Investment Property Search App
After focusing on one or more suitable locations for investing, you can begin an investment property search. Mashvisor’s investment property search app allows users to scour the US housing market to find the perfect real estate listing. The search tool acts as a ‘Google for real estate residential income properties’. Similar to the heatmap, buyers can search for investment properties using certain filters. These include:
- Financing method (cash vs mortgage)
- Cash on cash return
- Cap rate
- Budget
- Number of bedrooms and bathrooms
- Year built
- Square feet
- Traditional and Airbnb rental income
- Property type
- Property status (for sale, pending, sold, foreclosure)
Once you set the necessary filters, Mashvisor’s investment property search app will instantly find properties for sale that match your exact criteria. You can even request to get email alerts (if you sign up for a Professional Plan). That way, whenever Mashvisor finds investment properties for sale that match the criteria you set using the filters, you’ll know about them right away. Finding income properties has never been easier and more efficient! Try out the investment property search app here.
3. Income Property Calculator
Once you’ve narrowed down your search to a few promising real estate residential income properties, you can begin to analyze each property’s performance in more detail. Mashvisor’s income property calculator is all you need to do that! For the best results, investors should insert data on the financing method. Using the inputs along with predictive data, Mashvisor’s income property calculator computes the following metrics:
- Traditional and Airbnb rental income
- Traditional and Airbnb monthly expenses
- Traditional and Airbnb cash flow
- Traditional and Airbnb return on investment (cash on cash return and cap rate)
- Traditional and Airbnb occupancy rate
If you’re only interested in Airbnb analysis, you can use our free Airbnb calculator.
The provided metrics will paint the picture of the profitability of a rental property. With that, you’ll have completed an income property analysis. And you can do it for multiple investment properties for sale in a few minutes!
And just like that, you can easily find real estate residential income properties for sale that will make you money. To put what you’ve read into practice, CLICK HERE to start your FREE trial with Mashvisor and find the best real estate residential income properties!
For more on how to find positive cash flow income properties, read Mashvisor’s daily blog!