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How to make a graph using new and old MLS data

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I wanted to show you how to make graphs by exporting current and historic MLS data. Sounds exciting, right? I used a screencast below to give a brief tutorial. I show some examples of graphs in the beginning of the video, but you can also click market trends to scroll through more.

Why does this matter? Knowing how to work with numbers is very powerful. Making graphs can help you understand the market more deeply and assist clients to see what you are seeing. Both agents and appraisers can visually show things like a decade of sales in a particular neighborhood, all sales of a certain size or bedroom count, or even compare multiple tiers of data in a neighborhood (as I show you in the second tutorial below). This can be very convincing to quickly illustrate value trends and even help establish a list price (plus it makes you look smart in the eyes of your clients). You may want to check out a beginner’s tutorial I did for making scatter graphs in MLS and download Gnumeric for free here.

Tea or Lunch: If you’re an agent and want to sit down in person, just buy me a tea or lunch and I’m glad to teach you how to do this.

Coventry Neighborhood Elk Grove

Tutorial on how to use new and old data in MLS (watch below or here):

Tutorial on how to use multiple segments of data: (view below or here – examples include REO vs Traditional Sales, 2-bed vs. 3-bed, model match sales vs. entire neighborhood, etc…)

How might making graphs be relevant for your business?

If you have any questions or Sacramento home appraisal or property tax appeal needs, let’s connect by phone 916-595-3735, email, Twitter, subscribe to posts by email (or RSS) or “like” my page on Facebook

How to make a multi-level graph in MLS

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Are you a visual learner? I am. Today I want to show you how to export data from MLS to make a great visual presentation. This can come in very handy for real estate agents and appraisers when comparing different segments of data in a specific neighborhood, city or county. You might consider doing something like this to display a difference in bedroom count, price vs. square foot range, distressed vs. typical sales or even something like pool vs. no pool. In the video example below I show you how to plot Arms-length vs. REO vs. Short Sales in a neighborhood (like this graph in Elk Grove). I hope it’s easy to understand. Enjoy and let me know if you need any clarification. Happy graphing!!

If you have any questions, or real estate appraisal or property tax appeal needs in the Greater Sacramento Region, contact Lundquist Appraisal by phone 916-595-3735, email, Facebook, Twitter or subscribe to posts by email.

How do you make a scatter graph with Sacramento MLS data?

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One of the tools in my real estate utility belt is making trend graphs. Why is this important? I find that being able to visually display all sales or listings on a graph is a very convincing resource. For example, when a home owner hires me to do an appraisal for bankruptcy or any other reason, and I include graphs of historic sales over the past three years, sales over the last twelve months, and then other graphs showing sales for 3-bedroom units, and properties similar in size to the owner’s house, it’s easy to begin to get a picture of what is happening in the real estate market. The great thing too is that you can graph so many different facets, whether square footage, age, date, bed-count, days on market, short sales vs. REOs vs typical sales, etc…

You can see some examples of trend graphs here if you wish. For now, I made a brief video tutorial to help local Realtors and real estate professionals in the Sacramento area export and work with data from our local MLS. It’s a huge benfit to be able to share things like this with clients, and once you have a little practice, you can crank out graphs very quickly. And don’t worry, if you don’t have Excel on your computer, simply download Gnumeric for free.

If you have any questions, let me know, particularly if you are a local Realtor. Call me at 916.595.3735 or connect with me on Facebook.

Buying a House for Less than $20,000 in the Sacramento Area?

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What is the lowest-priced sale in MLS over the past 90 days? Can I get a drum roll please? The winner is $5,000. No, that’s not a typo.

1628 8th Street in Livingston is a 2-bedroom 1-bath single family detached property and it sold for $5,000 on 2/05/2010 as a bank-owned fixer. The Listing Agent stated that this “property is unfinished”, which probably means it is completely gutted or has some very serious damage. The photo certainly shows that the shell of the house has some major work needed. Sometimes properties near this price level have “unknown blackish substances” in them too, though not always.

Just in case you are wondering, this price level is not typical for the Sacramento Region or Central Valley. This is indeed the bottom of the market. Over the past 90 days there were only a total of 10 single family detached properties that sold under $20,000. For reference, here is a graph of all sales under $20,000 over the past year based on information in Sacramento MLS (this covers many counties surrounding Sacramento).