If you’re planning on getting into the real estate investing business, you’re probably looking for sources and websites that can help you out and have stumbled across Mashvisor. What is Mashvisor and how is it useful for real estate investors?
Let me start off this post by saying that the first thing beginners should know about real estate is that it’s NOT a get rich quick scheme. It’s a business that requires research, time, and hard work to make profits. From researching different markets to finding and analyzing investment properties to keeping up with the trends affecting the business, it can all be a little overwhelming for beginners. Some frequently asked questions by beginner real estate investors include:
- How can I research a real estate market for profitable investment opportunities?
- What are the occupancy and vacancy rates in the neighborhood or area where I plan to invest?
- How can I find cheap properties for sale that I can buy to rent out and make positive cash flow?
- Where can I find reliable data and projections of my property’s rental income and expenses?
Of course, with thorough research and due diligence, it’s possible to find the information that answers these questions on your own. However, doing the research manually will take you a lot of time. After all, you’re going to be researching market by market, analyzing dozens of potential properties, and verifying the numbers on each one.
The annoying part is that you’ll inevitably waste time on rental properties that are not even worth the time nor the investment so they won’t result in closed deals. Obviously, no real estate investor wants to end up in such a situation. This is the reason why many real estate websites were developed – in order to help investors find more deals and waste less time. One of these websites is Mashvisor.
In this post, I’m going to give you a detailed explanation of how the platform works, the special features and tools it has to offer, and how it’ll help you make faster and smarter real estate investment decisions. Think of this as a Mashvisor review that will help you decide if our platform is right for you as well as a complete guide that will show you how to make the most out of it.
First Things First: What Is Mashvisor?
As mentioned, Mashvisor is a website designed to make your life as a real estate investor easier and more efficient. It does so by providing analytics to show the expected performance of investment properties in any city and neighborhood in the US housing market. These analytics are predictive, meaning they’ll show you future trends and outcomes based on historical and comparative data.
First, Mashvisor lets you search for investment properties in any city that interests you. It’ll show you property listings (provided from the MLS and other sources) that have the potential to make profits as rental properties. Then, with predictive analytics, real estate investors can see for themselves if a property will make more money as a traditional rental (being leased out to long-term tenants) or as an Airbnb rental (being listed on Airbnb to rent out to travelers and vacationers on a short-term basis).
Tip: We’ve written a number of blogs on the difference between traditional and Airbnb rentals and what makes each strategy great for making money in real estate. Read all about them and more on our real estate investment blog.
This is one of Mashvisor’s strengths that sets it aside from its competitors. Some platforms may focus on only providing traditional analytics and others, on Airbnb analytics. However, unlike Mashvisor competitors, you can attain both important data analytics, find the best property that meets your criteria, and compare these rental strategies to see which the optimal one is.
Moreover, Mashvisor allows real estate investors to quickly research investments nationwide and become well-informed on multiple markets using a number of real estate analysis tools. It pulls in the data from several sources, organizes and makes it easy to crunch the numbers on several properties quickly. This will not only save you a lot of time but gives you the confidence to get started in real estate investing and enable you to meet your financial goals as well.
Want to give us a try? Click here to start out your 14-day free trial with Mashvisor and subscribe to our services with a 20% discount after!
So, What Are Mashvisor’s Features and Tools?
#1. The Search Page
The first thing you’ll see once you open up Mashvisor is the search page. You first start by typing in the investment location where you’re thinking of buying a rental property (you can enter either the city, neighborhood or zip code). You’ll then see a list of properties publically listed on the MLS. At the same time, Mashvisor will do the calculations and show you a few important numbers on each property. They include everything that real estate investors should look for before making a decision:
- Current Listing Price
- The Address
- Number of Bedrooms
- Number of Bathrooms
- Square Feet
- Traditional Cash on Cash Return
- Traditional Cap Rate
- Airbnb Cash on Cash Return
- Airbnb Cap Rate
Mashvisor’s unique search page also offers filters that are designed for real estate investors to customize their property search. What this means is that you can actually sort properties to only see the ones that meet exactly what you’re looking for. So, you can filter the search results based on all of the above figures AND your preferred rental strategy.
Say, for example, you only want to find Airbnb rental properties in a certain price range that have the highest potential cash on cash return. Simply set the appropriate filters and Mashvisor will sort the results for you. You won’t end up wasting time browsing through hundreds of property listings that you’re not interested in. In addition, you can further filter properties by (all of which you can see on the top bar):
- Cash vs. Mortgage
- Cash on Cash Return
- Cap Rate
- Budget
- Neighborhood
- Number of Bedrooms
- Number of Bathrooms
- Year Built
- Square Feet
- Rental Income
- Property Type (Single-Family Home, Townhouse, Multi-Family Home, Condo/Coop, or Other)
- Property Status (For Sale, Sold, Pending, Foreclosure)
This is an interactive feature that Mashvisor provides. For example, if you switch from cash to mortgage payment and enter your down payment, loan type, interest rate and then hit “Calculate”, the traditional and Airbnb cash on cash return for all properties will change. Every little change you make to these filters will result in recalculating the metrics for the available properties. With this, you can personalize your property search to include every little detail that matters to you! Say you’re looking to buy investment properties that
- Have 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms
- Were built after 1980
- Are between 1,500 and 2,900 square feet
- Fit within your budget of $300,000
- Have a cash on cash return above 5% when you use a 30-year fixed mortgage
Using Mashvisor, you can search for and find properties that fit this kind of criteria in a matter of minutes!
#2. The Heatmap Tool
A prominent feature of Mashvisor’s search page is the Heatmap Tool which you’ll see on the left. At first glance, it looks like a regular map that shows you how many investment properties are available for sale and in which neighborhood they’re located in your selected city. However, once you click on the little house icon on the top left where it says “Explore the Data” and select one of the filters, you activate the Heatmap. As you can see from the image below, real estate investors can choose one of the following filters:
- Listing Price
- Airbnb Cash on Cash Return
- Traditional Cash on Cash Return
- Airbnb Rental Income
- Traditional Rental Income
- Airbnb Occupancy Rate
Want to give us a try? Click here to start out your 14-day free trial with Mashvisor and subscribe to our services with a 20% discount after!
So, the map turns into a color-coded overview of the city. With this tool, you can actually see how investment properties in specific neighborhoods are performing in terms of your selected criteria (red means low and green means high). This allows real estate investors to focus their property search on neighborhoods that closely match their criteria. For example, if you’re looking for cheap properties with high returns, look in areas that are red for property price and green for cash on cash return, rental income, and occupancy rate.
At Mashvisor, we call this the neighborhood analysis real estate tool. It allows real estate investors to see how a neighborhood is performing in comparison to others in their selected city for real estate investing. Therefore, the Heatmap makes it much easier and faster to search for a neighborhood with rental properties for sale that promise good returns. This is important for an investor as you should always make sure you’re investing in good locations!
But That’s Not All!
What if you’re not ready yet to look at a particular rental property for sale? Maybe you’d rather have a closer look at a neighborhood first to see if it makes sense to invest in real estate there. In this case, you should head to the Neighborhood Analysis Page. Click on a neighborhood you’re interested in on the map and then hit “View More Data”. This will take you to the Neighborhood Analysis Page where you can see the following insights:
- Mashmeter: an overall evaluation of how good the neighborhood is for buying rental properties
- Median Property Price
- Average Price/Square Foot
- Traditional and Airbnb Cash on Cash Return
- Traditional and Airbnb Rental Income
- Number of Properties
- Airbnb Occupancy Rate
- Optimal Rental Strategy
- Walk Score
Moreover, you’ll also get three tabs on the left blue side which are:
- Rent Analysis: This allows real estate investors to explore the historical rental income for all properties that are listed in the selected neighborhood. In addition, you can switch between Airbnb and traditional rentals to see which strategy will yield a higher rental income.
- Comps: This tab gives you a list of comparable properties that have been previously sold in the neighborhood. Also, you’ll get information regarding the sale price, price/square foot, sale date, property type, number of bedroom and bathrooms, as well as the square feet.
- Insights: This one tells investors what the optimal options for an investment property in this neighborhood are. This includes the optimal property type, optimal number of bedrooms, and optimal rental strategy.
#3. The Property Analytics Page (AKA Investment Property Calculator)
After finding a good neighborhood for real estate investing and a few properties there that match your criteria, you might be wondering which one has the highest potential for profits. You can quickly find the answer using the next tool that Mashvisor provides – the Investment Property Calculator. While using the Heatmap, you can still see the list of available properties on the right side. Simply, click on any of them that interests you and you’ll be taken to the property analytics page where you’ll get more detailed information.
The first thing you’ll see at the top of the page is a quick summary of the investment property. It’s the same information as before including the:
- Property Type
- Address
- Property Price
- Square Feet
- Price/Square Feet
- Number of Bedrooms
- Number of Bathrooms
Also, in the upper right corner, you can see icons that allow you to share the property report via email, download the property report, or save the property. Now, notice the blue bar on the left which shows the three main features of this tool. These tabs are:
A) Purchase Analysis
The Purchase Analysis tab is where a real estate investor will find some of the most useful information. It includes all the necessary calculations needed to analyze properties and determine if they’ll be profitable investment properties:
1- Financing/Mortgage Calculator
This is where you decide if you’re buying this property with a mortgage or fully in cash. Once you’ve selected your preferred method of financing, you’ll have to decide the purchase price. Of course, Mashvisor already provides the listing price as well as Redfin’s estimated selling price. So, just select which price you’re willing to offer or select the “Custom Price” option and plug in whatever price you choose to get returns for.
Next, if you’ve chosen to finance your real estate investment with a mortgage, you’ll have to provide more information about the loan. Customize your mortgage by entering your down payment, loan amount, loan type (15 years or 30 years fixed), and the interest rate on the mortgage. Now you’ll start to see how interactive Mashvisor’s Investment Property Calculator is. Meaning, any change made on the mortgage calculator will result in the recalculation of the expected return on investment. This allows you to adjust or play around with the numbers to see which mortgage type, loan amount, and down payment will yield a higher ROI.
2- Rental Strategy
The next section of this real estate analysis tool is the rental strategy where you’ll see how the property is expected to perform as a traditional rental vs an Airbnb rental. You can simply compare the expected returns of each rental strategy to see which one is optimal for the property (yields higher returns) in terms of:
- Comparable Rental Income
- Monthly Expenses
- Cash Flow
- Cash on Cash Return
- Cap Rate
- Occupancy Rate
3- Expenses
Of course, owning an investment property comes with a number of expenses that affect its profitability. So, in the next section of our Investment Property Calculator, real estate investors will have all expenses broken down into One Time Startup Costs (the expenses you’ll only have to pay when buying the property) and Recurring Costs, (operating expenses you’ll have to pay on a monthly or annual basis).
The main one-time startup costs for any rental investment include:
- Inspections costs
- Total repairs or renovation costs
- Furniture and appliances costs
- Closing costs
As for the recurring costs of owning a rental property, they include:
- Insurance
- Utilities
- Property management
- Property maintenance
- Real estate property tax
- HOA dues
- Rental income tax
The expenses you see are pre-estimated based on local rates and rental comps for traditional and Airbnb rentals in the area the property is located in. Of course, you should still do your own research and modify the expenses to ensure more accurate results for the rate of return. Moreover, since there are usually more unique costs of owning a rental property that may apply to some investors, there’s also an “Other” field and an “Add Custom Expense” option for you to fill in as you see fit.
After making all the changes you deem necessary, the Investment Property Calculator will recalculate all metrics for you. Also, at the bottom of the page, you’ll get an estimation of how many months or years it’ll take to pay back for your investment. Ultimately, this shows you how the property will perform on a monthly and annual basis. This data is great to help you save time when evaluating the investment.
Finally, while you’re in the Purchase Analysis tab, you can also see the contact information for the real estate agent representing the property. So if you think the property you’re analyzing is worth the investment or you just want to get more details and have a look at it in person, you can quickly get in touch with the agent and get an appointment.
To learn more about how Mashvisor can help you find and analyze profitable investment properties in the US housing market, schedule a demo.
B) Valuation Analysis
On the Valuation Analysis tab, you’ll get a list of rental comps for both the traditional and Airbnb strategy. Mashvisor utilizes comps to give investors an idea of whether an investment property or a rental strategy is good or not based on their personal goals. So, you’ll see how similar comps are to the property you’re analyzing, their address, distance, occupancy rate, rental income, and other features.
C) Insights
Finally, the Insights tab gives you:
- An overall evaluation of the neighborhood
- Investment Valuation Score: an overall evaluation of the investment opportunity
- Airbnb Occupancy Insights: overall impact of guest reviews on the listing’s Airbnb occupancy rate
- Rental Opportunity Insights: overall evaluation of the Airbnb investment opportunity in the neighborhood
#4. The Property Finder Tool
The next real estate investment tool Mashvisor provides is the Property Finder tool. If you’d like to quickly find the best rental property in your city of choice without having to go through an analysis process, this is the tool for you! Unlike Mashvisor competitors, we use a wide range of comps, predictive analytics, and metrics to provide you with a list of investment properties that match your search criteria AND have the highest returns. In addition, the Property Finder comes with a number of filters that allow you to set your criteria and immediately start your property search. These filters include:
- City: you can find properties for sale in up to 5 cities simultaneously
- Miles: the distance that you’d like the rental property to be from the city
- Budget
- Rental Strategy
- Type of Property
- Number of Bedrooms
- Number of Bathrooms
So, once you set the filters to personalize your property search criteria, you’ll quickly see available properties that best match what you’re looking for along with their cash on cash returns (for both the traditional and Airbnb strategies).
Want to give us a try? Click here to start out your 14-day free trial with Mashvisor and subscribe to our services with a 20% discount after!
#5. The Property Marketplace
If you’re looking for off market properties, Mashvisor has a place you can go to find this type of real estate investment: the Property Marketplace. Here, you’ll find thousands of non-MLS properties including foreclosures, bank owned homes, short sale properties, and even auctioned properties. The best part is that you can analyze these off market real estate properties using the aforementioned Investment Property Calculator. That way, you’ll not only find below market value opportunities, but you’ll also be able to find cash flowing real estate off market using comparable data.
Visit the Mashvisor Property Marketplace today and find the off market property you’ve been searching for!
The Bottom Line
To summarize, Mashvisor helps (both beginner and experienced) real estate investors make faster and smarter investment decisions. Furthermore, the tools which we offer make the process of researching different markets and analyzing investment opportunities easy and headache-free. No more spreadsheets. No more wasted time! Whether you’re actively looking for new rentals in your market, trying to save time on your property analysis, or in need of a faster way to find new markets and properties that match your criteria, then you should definitely check out Mashvisor.
Want to give us a try? Click here to start out your 14-day free trial with Mashvisor and subscribe to our services with a 20% discount after!