19 Mar 2024
Developers chase certain economic indicators such as “building permits”, “housing starts,” and "housing completions,” just to name a few that can be found on the Census.gov website. Slicing and dicing those numbers into various data points, the hope is that they can eventually key in on locations where all of the most celebrated indicators converge and they can then break ground with confidence.
As a Solopreneur, you want to be aware of the vast amount of data available in a public forum, but realistically it makes more sense to be able to generate your own data based on your localized needs and buy-box standards. While national housing trends are decent predictors, let’s look at a “for sale/sold” hack that can be used to generate possible investment locations based on “local selling and buying” demand.
Local selling and buying hack self storage rules of thumb: people that sell are moving into a new location which produces items that they might not want to unpack. They will need storage. People that buy new homes will need to store their items that they might not want to unpack or simply can’t make room for in their new homes.
Let’s see how we can compile our own data based on “selling and sold” and then do the math that should point us to a future location to either buy a facility and flip It, Or buy a facility and manage it. We are specifically looking for volatility within a housing market that is defined by the city or suburb of your choice. Volatility as defined by more houses being “sold” in a specific time frame versus houses that are ‘for sale’.
Key takeaway. Think: What criteria are you using when analyzing locations? Is it based on National Averages or Local Data? How can you combine the two and come up with a pragmatic reason to invest or not to invest? Plenty more on the subject, but this little ‘housing hack’ provides you with one more data point in your buy-box that will help you to make a solid decision.
