It’s generally recommended that first-time real estate investors start their journey with a single family home. And even though these investment properties are often recognized as “starter real estate investments,” you will find some in the portfolios of more experienced property investors as well. While they do make for good rental properties, there is one issue that many investors have with them and that is finding single family homes for sale.
In larger, urban areas, multi family homes are much more common. So if you live in such an area and employ investment property search tactics like driving around to look for “For Sale” signs, it can be hard to come across single family homes for sale.
The best approach then is to start your search online. But rather than just start your search on any real estate website, I am going to introduce you to 4 of the best tools for finding single family homes for sale:
- Real Estate Heatmap
- Rental Property Finder
- Mashvisor Property Marketplace
- Investment Property Calculator
With these real estate investment tools, you’ll not only easily find single family homes for sale anywhere in the US housing market, but you’ll actually find the best ones. Ones that will provide a high return on investment. So, let’s jump into what these tools can do for the single family investor.
How to Find Single Family Homes for Sale
If you’re ready to start buying single family homes today and just haven’t found the right one yet, then fast-track the process by accessing all of these investment property search tools today. How can you do that? Sign up for Mashvisor now. But don’t forget to come back here to learn how to use these tools!
#1. Real Estate Heatmap
I mentioned that part of the struggle with investing in single family homes is that they can be hard to find in the places you’d think to look. “So how can I find single family homes for sale near me?” You might have to let go of this thought. If you do live in a bustling city, you may have to look a bit far from home. But with the real estate heatmap, this isn’t an issue.
The real estate heatmap functions as a neighborhood research tool. It allows you to start your investment property search the right way- with a neighborhood analysis.
The first step is to type in the city where you want to start your search (see image below). Next, you’ll want to start adjusting filters and taking note of what happens. The filters available to you include:
- Listing Price
- Traditional Rental Income
- Airbnb Rental Income
- Traditional Cash on Cash Return
- Airbnb Cash on Cash Return
- Airbnb Occupancy Rate
So, if your budget for investing in single family rentals is $200,000, you will immediately see which neighborhoods fit your price range and which do not. And you’ll be able to easily identify them thanks to the colors the real estate heatmap uses. Neighborhoods that are more affordable will be colored in red and those that are more expensive, in green. Check the price range for the city at the bottom of the heatmap and see where your budget falls in the color scheme.
Next, you’ll want to set the other filters, one by one. Identify neighborhoods that are marked in green for these metrics- these will be ones where you can make the most rental income and cash on cash return. And if you do wish to run an Airbnb, check out the Airbnb occupancy rate filter as well and choose a neighborhood in green.
Now, you’ll have a list of a few top performing neighborhoods. The final step is to set the “Single Family Home” filter. This will allow you to view only single family home investment properties for sale.
Keep in mind that not every neighborhood on your list will have ones but the map will quickly show you if there are any. This way, within minutes, you’ll have found a single family home for sale in a great neighborhood.
Related: Finding Income Properties Using a Heatmap
#2. Rental Property Finder
Want an even quicker way to find single family homes for sale in the city of your choice? Then use the property finder.
Simply set the filters which include:
- Location
- Distance from the Location
- Budget
- Rental Strategy (Airbnb or Traditional)
- Type of Investment Property (select single family homes)
- Number of Bedrooms/Bathrooms
Once you set these filters, this tool will instantly find rental properties for sale that have the highest return on investment in the city (or cities) of your choice.
It’s quick, it’s easy, and what’s special about the rental property finder is that, as noted above, you can search in more than one single family rental market at the same time. Perhaps you’ve come across a list of the best places to invest in real estate for single family homes, like the one we have included in our blog: Single Family Homes: The Best Rental Properties for 2020. Here are the first 5 cities from that list:
- Atlanta, GA
- Boca Raton, FL
- Buffalo, NY
- Charleston, SC
- Chicago, IL
If you aren’t sure where to start and know that as a real estate investor, you should go where the most profitable investments are, then the property finder is what you need.
You can enter multiple cities at once. The powerful AI will show you the top-performing investment properties across these cities. What you find might surprise you:
As you can see, the Atlanta real estate market and the Buffalo real estate market seem to have the most profitable single family homes for sale currently! And just like that, you have found where you should invest in real estate as well as a few good options.
Start your search for single family rental properties for sale now.
#3. The Mashvisor Property Marketplace
A list of property search tools for investors wouldn’t be complete without a tool that lets you find off market properties. Real estate investors know that some of the best deals are not publicly listed. So if you want to find hidden real estate investment opportunities, check out the Mashvisor Property Marketplace.
As with the other investment property search tools, you can set different filters, all of which will ensure you find the best single family homes for sale in the housing market of your choice. These investment properties will range from foreclosed homes to short sales to bank owned homes and other properties listed by private owners and real estate agents.
The best part? You’ll be able to analyze any off market property for sale listed in the Mashvisor Property Marketplace using the next tool.
Related: What Are Off Market Properties? How Can You Find One?
#4. Investment Property Calculator
When it comes to the question of how to find investment properties for sale, rookies might make the mistake of thinking this just involves:
- Locating a single family home for sale
- Placing an offer
- Negotiating
- Closing
But that is a recipe for disaster.
You need to perform rental property analysis on any listing that looks promising. So if you’ve used any of the above property search tools and found what looks like a profitable single family home for rent, you have to complete the next step and use the investment property calculator.
The investment property calculator allows you to interact with the auto-generated property analysis. And while the tool’s AI gathers the best real estate comps and market data to show you accurate estimates of:
- Rental Income
- Rental Property Expenses
- Cash Flow
- Cap Rate
- Cash on Cash Return
- Rental Occupancy Rate
you may have some numbers unique to your situation. For example, until you interact with the investment property calculator and enter in your financing, the cap rate and cash on cash return will be equal. If you aren’t paying in cash, you can enter your down payment and other key mortgage info to see your actual cash on cash return.
Or, maybe you plan to manage the single family home yourself and can change the given estimate for property management fees to $0. Or maybe you don’t wish to rent out a furnished rental property. Again, these costs can be changed to $0. All of this will instantly be reflected in the cash flow and return on investment metrics in the investment property calculator. You’ll be able to see if this single family home for sale is the best one for you. Otherwise, you can continue with your search and find the right investment property.
Start Your Search Now
If you’ve been struggling to find single family homes for sale, let alone one profitable one, these real estate investment tools will solve this issue for you.
But you don’t have to take my word for it. You can try out all of these tools with a 14-day free trial now.