First off, I would like to thank you for taking the time to review the site and offer your feedback in the form of a comment below. YES THIS IS THE PLACE TO LET IT LOOSE!
Secondly, I’d like to take a moment to thank our amazing team of engineers, programmers, designers, advisors and NINJAs for making the impossible, possible. I truly honor you. Thank you to all that have supported us (and an equal thank you to the naysayers/non-supporters as you motivated us just the same). Almost a year in the making we are finally here. Our vision, our hard work, and our unwavering faith have brought us here today.
While San Diego [UPDATED] and now The Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area is just a starting point we are still very much a “work in progress“. The site is not perfect (especially for a perfectionist that is striving for simplicity). We launched with about 75% of the functionality/capability that we wanted to, but hey, we were anxious to bring about change.
The main things we are aware of and will be releasing in the near future is: 1.) address, neighborhood, city and MLS# search (eliminating the zip code drop-down allowing the user to type it in) 2.) Our own AVM (Valuation Model) 3.) Sliders working dynamically with our RevestorRating Graph and 4.) Nationwide coverage (all of which is very close…you just need to let us know that you want it and that you want it BAD!)
We will be the first to admit our ‘estimated rent’ and our algorithm are not 100% accurate. Over time (as the algorithm recognizes patterns in our database and our users give feedback it WILL gain more intelligence and get very close!). At this point, Revestor is not an end all be all, but rather a pre-due diligence tool. You certainly aren’t going to call up your real estate agent and say “buy 1234 Main St – now!” without doing any additional research but it sure is going to give you a good place to start. It is very important that you find yourself at the site often. Know that this post is always a place that you can come and give feedback and help make improvements.
Some may be fearful of real estate catching up to today’s technology…but I say we must accept, adapt and embrace the change as if we keep doing what we are doing we will keep getting what we are getting! Our goal with Revestor is to help people make better decisions by providing the most relevant (useful) information. In other words searching by the things that actually matter.
WE WANT TO ELICIT YOUR FEEDBACK. After all, the only way we can get better and grow is with constructive and critical feedback from our users. Our users are who will sculpt the site into what it will ultimately become (chipping away what doesn’t belong and chiseling what is already there)
What do you like about the site?
What do you not like about the site?
What is stopping Revestor from being one of the BIG four in 2012 (in other words will people be referring to online real estate as Zillow, Realtor.com, Trulia and Revestor?)
What is stopping Revestor from being THE largest real estate website in the world by 2014?
Again, thank you for taking the time to give us your valuable feedback and I hope we can constantly make the site a better experience for you day by day.
_________________________________________________________________________
Comment Rules: Remember what Fonzie was like? Cool. That’s how we’re gonna be — cool. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name and do not put your website in the comment text, as both come off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation! (Hat Tip to Tim Ferriss & Brian Oberkirch for the Comment Rules)
http://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/BloodhoundBlog/?p=15405
My comments were:
Here is what I like about the site: I like the map display of the listings and I love the fact that it ranks the listings by investment potential. The financial data offered, on individual listings, is pretty comprehensive. It drills down on expense data and allows the user to customize it. The mortgage data is cool because it allows you to slide the down payment tool and see real-time figures. The exit strategy information is unique but I’m unclear as to how they determine the potential resale value.
Here is what I think needs improvement: It’s only available for San Diego County right now. That works fine for me but, as I’m sure the management of Revestor,com knows, that ain’t gonna fly if they intend to be a player. I’m unclear as to the accuracy of the rental rates. I thought it looked pretty high, or ambitious but I haven’t seen a property lease, in that zip code, for over a year now. The individual property listing display page seems kind of boring with incomplete MLS listing data but the financial data exceeds my expectations. Finally, the mortgage information is not “live” yet and a tad to ambitious. That should improve as they secure live mortgage feeds.
I love the concept of REvestor and would have used it many times in the past. I currently own 49 rental properties. As I look through the properties identified in San Diego it appears that many need lots of work. Not sure if this is factored in but would be helpful in calculations. In other words the cash flow numbers given may work after properties are completed but is that expense factored in (or is going to be?). I think becoming #1 is partially about the value, simplicity of use and functionality of the site but also distribution (think McDonalds). The better you get at linking to other Real Estate sites where investors ‘hang out’ the quicker REvestor will become a phenom.
Spot on Brian.
We are in talks with LoanSifter about an average daily feed. We also looked at BankRate but they seem to be a little off. We are looking for something within 25bps of accuracy as a general gauge. Obviously, occupancy, credit, down payment, loan amount, income, assets, etc. will factor into an exact rate and that is where professionals such as yourself come in.
Yes the sliders are very cool, dynamic and complex, if you adjust one thing it changes everything else…and that is just the beginning. In my opinion our team did an excellent job here. It took a ton of programming but, trust me, they are going to get even cooler while maintaining simplicity for the beginner.
We want to keep the detail page clean and neat and not clutter it up with useless data. We will be offering some other cool references and data but want to make sure we keep it clean and to the stuff that matters.
We are ready to go nationwide beyond San Diego at the ‘flip of a switch’ we just want to be live in one city first to work out any kinks.
For any inaccuracies in the data or algorithm we will be offering a feedback button/form but in the meantime we are encouraging users to email info at revestor dot com with the MLS # or address and suggested change so we can look into it.
Thank you for your valuable feedback and early adoption.
By the way, thanks; I’ll be up all night now. One more suggestion for your engineers: If the negative cash flow figures, on the search results summary, could be red instead of green (in brackets), that might be more useful. The only problem with that is that it might be too negative.
ha yeah, a negative number should never be green! I think our designers had it RED but somewhere along the way it got changed.
I agree.
Awesome website Bill Lyons. I love the concept. Keep it up!
Bill, you’ve impressed me yet again! Love this whole concept. I am eager for it to expand to Colorado.
Where in Colorado are you Tiffany? The reason I ask is that I am in Fort Collins and Loveland and do analysis on properties there.
Thanks.
James
When you edit the “expenses” section, on property detail, Mello-Roos is spelled incorrectly. I don’t mean to nitpick but figured you want to know everything . It doesn’t affect the functionality at all.
we are on it
Revestor!
Way to go. I like the concept of changing how we buy real estate. This really makes things easy to quickly look at, identify possibly “The Best Deal” in a zip code, and allows you to analyze the numbers quickly.
Here’s a few constructive comments:
- The Revestor Rating doesn’t seem to be working currently.
- The rents seem high, but as an investor, you should be very conservative anyway.
- I’m concerned you are using Zillow as a comparable tool. Is there a way to merge Zillow, Red Fin, and MLS Comps to get a better estimated value?
- I’ll be excited to see how your algorithm can “learn” or get smarter based on user feedback.
- There seems to be a real lack of Realtor Contact Info. I’m sure there’s an advertising piece that comes later, where a Realtor’s info can be displayed next to the listing details.
- The current listing information seems very broad/vague. Maybe there needs to be an easier way to contact the listing agent or the advertising Buyers Agent.
- Real Estate Services (Title, Escrow, Mortgage, Home Inspection, Appraiser, etc.) How will these (if any) be incorporated into the website?
All and all the usability is great, the mapping is cool, and it makes it quick and easy to view the cap rates in your neighborhood. Cheers to your success!
Thank you Greg for the valuable feedback. As stated in the blog post:
*”RevestorRating” – Coming soon
*The “Estimated Rents” will get more accurate over time and we will actually be providing a low-high range
*It is very important to note that Zillow is just there as a reference. Our algorithm does not use or take Zestimate into account.
*”VestorValue” (our own valuation model) – Coming soon
*The listing agents contact info is at the bottom of the detail page. It is important to note that we are providing linkage (huge for their SEO) back to thewebsite that they have on file with SDAR/Sandicor AND a phone #. (It is important that Realtors and other real estate professionals sign up for a username. That way once we release the profiles they will be able to have their picture and other information on the site)
*We are committed to making the detail page advertising free and only are providing the listing agents info. In the future there will be a “Vest” button where buyers can go through a step-by-step buying process. That is where real estate professionals (for all services title, etc.) can target the buyers that they want to assist.
Again, thank you for taking the time to review the site! More to come!
As a Realtor/Investor in the industry on both sides of the fences, let me share with you that there are few Realtors that “get it” when it comes to investing in Real Estate, and know how to work the numbers. It seems simple enough, but most Realtors are fearful of investors thinking they are out to scam or take advantage of homeowners, therefore passing them over, and working with owner occupied buyers. With that thought in mind, I would like to make a suggestion to allow, “Investor Friendly Realtors” the opportunity to advertise on your site (free or fee), regardless if they are the listing agent or not. Especially, as most of my listings get seen first by my investors before they ever hit the MLS, and the homeowner is pleased to know that there property will not be on the MLS, especially if they are “distressed”. Considering the above, how can I best utilize your sight to let other investors know that I am a Realtor that “gets it”, and knows the numbers they are looking for for cash-flow/profit? Any suggestions, as I might not be the listing agent on the property they found searching, but I know how to get more money in their pocket.
Would love to advertise on your site…any thoughts?
Bill,
Liking this more as I begin to work with it. As Brian Brady will tell you, I’m a stickler, too, for giving your product the best chance to hit the market with a running start, and so I’d like to see you use a higher quality microphone in your video. I know it sounds petty, but although the presentation is (IMO) quite good, I was distracted by the “boxy” sound of your overview.
Hey, if that’s the biggest issue….my man….you’ve got nothing but blue skies ahead
Best of luck to you.
Don
Thank you for the feedback Don. Yes, the general consensus is that the video sucks. ha
That is what happens when ya do stuff homemade on the fly, bootstrap style. I’m glad you like everything else.
What a great Game Changing Web Site!!! Well done! I can’t wait for you to take the site’s reach to an international level. This is an extremely helpful tool and saves investors a lot of time and money. It would be great to be able to buy houses online with the click of a mouse. Being an online House Trader could be a great new industry!
Tom
This is a great site for somebody like me who is looking to become an investor in the Phoenix market. I know it is a great time to buy, but since I am new to investing in real estate I did not have a great understanding of how to analyze my options. REvester has educated and informed me on what, where and how to look at the market. I am now in the process of investigating properties originally gleaned on the website. Thanks REvester! As the estimations produced get increasingly accurate I think branding and exposure will definitely make you part of the Big 4. Keep up the good work!
We plan on going from San Diego straight to Nationwide but hey maybe we will add Phoenix somewhere in between there just for you
It would be helpful if you could manually input different interest rates. Also, if you are marketing to average home buyers (not strictly seasoned investors) I think you need a complete tutorial explaining terms and how the data is practically applied.
Great points Jesse. Our video is meant to do some of that and walk people through. It is homemade and will eventually be redone by a professional videographer.
Adjusting interest rates will come soon and so will the ability to type in data or use the sliders. Some like to type in info rather than move the sliders.
Having worked for/with Bill in the past, I have seen first-hand his uncanny ability to remain one-step ahead of the industry learning curve, to produce top quality results for his clients, and to do so in an ethical manner not commonly seen in our industry. I am not currently working in the RE field due to an illness, but when I do get back into it, Bill will be the first guy I call for honest advice, unwavering support, and perhaps a job? Congrats my friend… I am confident that REvestor will be another big success for you!
As a real estate broker that focuses mainly on the real estate INVESTMENT side of the business I know that Revestor will be a great tool for real estate investors to start their search and make an informed decision when purchashing a property. In today’s market you have to do your homework before purchasing, the money will be made when you purchase not on speculation that prices will increase. Revestor will help the buyer or investor to pull the trigger and to feel confident it was a smart decision. Revestor will be one of the premier real estate websites!!! Great Job!!!
Roberto
The website seems simple to operate although the video on my computer was diffuclt to see in great detail. It will be interesting to see how the individual investor utilizes this program as Cash Flow and Cap Rate are probably difficuolt to understand and value.
I think it could sight if the data was as accurate as Revestor indicates. Good luck !!
This site is extremely easy to use. A great tool for realtors and home buyers. Thank you for coming up with a user friendly site for everyone to use. I will pass this along to my clients and friends.
Amanda
Impressive Bill. As a Certified Financial Planner, I recommend this site for an accurate and efficient way to calculate income property analysis. I’m looking forward to our next meeting. 858 678-8686
Being both General Building Contractor & Real Estate Broker, I view Revestor as a great tool for my future clients. Taking into consideration your 4 “main things” to be released “in the near future”, it should be very helpful and popular. I wish I had Revestor up and running to facilitate my customer’s decisions for my recent developments in the Bay Area. Kudos to your engineers!
Yes, we have a great team and they are amazing…they have much more up their sleeve though. Thank you Edward for taking the time.
I love the site. The layout is straight forward and user friendly. I like the fact that it allows me to manipulate rent, costs, mortgage calculations, etc to come up with my own figures. I would like to see other mortgage options shown which according to the note that popped up, you will be adding soon. I do not see why any investor wouldn’t come to your site first when beginning the search for an investment propoerty. You just need to add other areas besides San Diego and market the heck out out of this!
Bill, congratulations. There are so many variables, but this website takes care of being able to control almost all of them, especially the big figures which influence the cap rate most. A useful tool for all. It’ll be interesting to be able to compare geographic returns once more ZIP codes are added.
Yes indeed. Thank you for taking the time to review Les.
As usual, you are using your gift of vision to bring more opportunity to more people. It has been a pleasure knowing you, working with you, and learning from you. I have a feeling this could very well be one of the big ones in 2012. Let me know when you get to Charleston, SC. I can turn a lot of people on to Revestor. Great job brother. Looking forward to toasting to your newest success. Cheers!
Bill, site looks great and congrats on getting the beta version up. I think it’s important to continually solicit feedback (positive & negative) so you can continue to refine this application and make it the most useful resource for home buyers and investors alike. The usability is great, site loads fast and there’s an abundance of information simplified. Looking forward to watching it grow!
As a fellow web innovator/ninja, and former Real Estate professional, I am impressed by the Revestor movement. The dexterity of it’s user interface combined with complex back-end algorithms delivering real-time insights is unlike any tool I have ever seen.
Like all great web applications, front end simplicity + back end complexity, combined with speed = POWER.
This could have saved me a ton of time (and money) when I was in the business.
In it’s current state of BETA, Revestor is a really interesting tool for slightly more experienced Real Estate investors. I imagine that the total balance of this tool to be not necessarily as a static site-at-home search and find tool, but that it will likely be more powerful used on mobile devices for agents and investors alike.
My complete thoughts on Revestor: http://wp.me/p1w3pO-3H
Thank you for the indepth review Dan. However the link you posted isn’t working. Let me know and I will update it for you.
Oh Dan, you shameless link baiter
Thats ok Dan, more than happy to give you some juice
Seems to be working for me. It may be a browser issue. You could also try http://danielredman.com/home/?p=229
Timely, relevant, and easy to use. The fact that “Zillow zestimates” are involved makes me want to create a buffer within the numbers initially, but this search tool is a fantastic starting point for one to begin their due diligence when identifying the profitability of specific investment property options.
Great time saver for doing the first stages of due diligence when identifying investment/rehab property opportunities. I found the website easy to navigate and should be a great help to the rookie investor as well as the seasoned investor looking to find cash positive investment properties or rehab properties with good upside.
I have only been on the consumer end of real estate and have used many different sites. Most of them are very difficult to use and page after page has to load as you gather information. Most of them, including a very popular site, Realtor.com, are time consuming and cumbersome to use. Revestor is not like any other site I have used. I like the simplicity of being able to research properties and have them all show up at one time on the map (I’ve not seen that before) along with a list. And conveniently contained in the list is all the information you could want. I like the fact that the research includes the cash flow and cap rate. If you are the average home buyer you don’t really think about purchasing real estate this way, but this is the way everyone should look at it. As the demo points out, if investors do it, why not you? Wonderful! It promotes responsible spending, something of which we need more of right now. Another thing I like is you can change the variables and don’t have to load different pages. What a time saver. Obviously the designers respect the users time. This is a unique feature and as an investor, this feature is very important and would keep me coming back. I don’t know of another website that gives as much information without having to load page after page. “Time is money” as the saying goes. As far as I’m concerned, the concepts in this website surpasses all the other sites out there right now!
Thank you for the in-depth comprehension review Vanessa. All of this feedback helps us and get better and provide what users REALLY want. Hopefully we can get the video redone ASAP by a professional
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Bill, this is a great idea and I love the site. I found the site very easy to use and other than a few things that others have questioned and you already responded to, it is MONEY. We all knew that you would be successful, when you were about 15 yrs old you wouldn’t let your dad, Kari, Sharon and I go out for the night until you took every dollar and owned every property in monopoly….foreshadowing? Congrats Pal, go get that Amex Black card back.
Site looks amazing, functions perfectly.
Constructive Criticism:
I am the average home buyer, which I think is a large part of your target, and I dont get terms like “Cash Flow” and “Cap Rate”. You need to come up with a friendly term to add to these ones (specifically in the headline and search drop down) or you are going to alienate and lose the average home buyer.
If the average home buyer is not part of your target market, then delete this critique.
Spot on Danny.
The goal of the site is to empower the average homebuyer with better information, indicators and tools to make better and more informed decisions. We are confident we can bridge the gap by making the complex simple. (It wont be easy but we are here to make an impact!) Once we release the RevestorRating graph it simplifies everything by rating the property on a scale of 1-10. Pretty simple
Thanks for your support,
The Revestor Team
That’s a really good point. I think you do a pretty good job explaining what they mean, Bill but the average first time buyer might like (positive monthly cash) and (approximate yield) as alternative terms (maybe in parentheses)
Great site can’t wait til it hits it’s full potential. It’s very user friendly and provides the info you really need when you are thinking of acquiring a new property. I am impressed with the job you’re team did I know Revestor is going to be a huge success.
After having coached a lot of people new to real estate, I can see how this could be a valuable tool. It could very useful to put in your key indicators to identify a basket of properties that would be optimal to research. This would make the search for the best properties faster and more effective.
Bottom line, I love the concept and the website.
I really like the simplicity of the site. It seems very user friendly and a “go to” site for a home buyer. I agree with Danny about the Cash flow and Cap rate- I am not so sure that the average home buyer will get this. But, all in all, I think Revestor will be a huge success. Good Luck!!
Great site and tons of useful information. I believe its a great idea and could be very useful.
Very well constructed website. The flow is perfect. It will empower the small to mid-sized investor. BUT… You need the East Coast (specifically Florida) represented to have a broad appeal.
Wow! Looks to be a very useful tool. Definately going to turn our investor clients on to it! Thanks!
I like the site because it is very easy to use. I like how you are able to set pre-defined functions and requirements for your real estate queries. Looks like a great site.
Good luck!
I like how simple it is to navigate through and understand… Revestor might actually make it possible for someone like me to invest in real estate (not my area of expertise).
I do have a few suggestions:
1. the voice on the video sounds a bit like there is an echo or it is recorded in a tin can. Maybe you could make that have a more professional sound.
2. Have you thought about a glossary of terms so people don’t have to go back to the video to understand acronyms and terms throughout the website?
3. I think it would be cool if you had a area on the site asking for people to be able to submit their suggestions. It makes your audience feel more connected and a part of the decision process. For years merchants tried to find ways to get feedback from their customers. The web makes that very easy.
4. Has there been any thoughts on creating a social networking portion of this site… so that folks can chat, share properties, etc…?
I really think you have made real estate investing simple and I personally thank you for that!!
Kasten
Way to pull it together Bill!! Cool site with simple, user friendly, but powerful features. The level of data is amazing, and the customization too. A friend of mine spend hours building a sophisticated excel spreadsheet to do this stuff when he was looking at buying a rental property, but this does the exact same thing. This could save sharp buyers hours of work.
A few things I noticed that should be confirmed or looked at. When I searched in my zipcode, and switched between cap rate and cashflow, nothing seemed to change in the list, only on the map. Is that because the two fields are so highly correlated, or because there is a glitch in the system?
I tried to click the price field in the list to switch the sorting from lowest to highest but nothing changed. You should probably add sorting capability for all fields in the list just by clicking on the feild title.
I agree with the previous poster that default rents seemed kind of high.
Above you listed zillow, realtor.com, and Trulia as the main competitors. I would add redfin to that list, because it has the most similar features to what this does, but it is one-up in a way because you can actually buy the house from their site using redfin agents. Revestor is better from a data standpoint. You would have the best of both worlds if you had “Revestor” agents just like redfin – or better yet, develop some sort of relationship with Redfin to add that feature to your site using their agents.
JK first of all thank you for taking the time to review and critique the site. You have some good points to say the least. I will try to address them all the best I can. (Just to warn you, you may get some heat from some Realtors on this comment thread for your Redfin partnership suggestion
. With that being said remember the comment rules everyone. Be cool like Fonzie 
)
When you search by cap rate the properties in that zip code will show up on the list view (below the map) from highest to lowest when you go back and search by cash flow the properties will show up on the list view (below the map) from highest to lowest cash flow. In our next update we will be enabling the pivot tables in the list view so users can sort by whatever column they want. Furthermore we will be adding better location search: address, neighborhood, city, MLS#. Our advanced search will give the users every filter under the sun and will be released in conjunction with our national launch.
Estimated Rents will get better over time as the algorithm gains intelligence. In the meantime we are encouraging users to email info at revestor dot come with the detail page URL and their suggested rent.
Redfin is a great company with a great user interface but we have a totally different business model. Redfin’s challenges lie in their ability to scale (they have to open a physical retail office in every city they want to expand to) and they have very tight margins to work with.
We are not a real estate company, real estate advisors or agents and will never be agents or brokers. Independent real estate professionals (agents, brokers, lenders, etc.) are the lifeblood of our site. By helping real estate professionals increase their effectiveness and business with tools, resources, data and marketing we create a win-win.
We ARE however a real estate search site that strives to provide relevant data to empower consumers with better information, while helping connect those buyers and sellers to independent real estate professionals.
I have a motto that I learned (the hard way) over time “you can’t be all things to all people” we are looking to do what we do best and have others do what they do best.
Namaste
Great tool to help buyers narrow down their investment search…Revestor is so easy to use, I can’t believe there was nothing like this out there. Truly, this site will be a game changer.
Carlos says, “I can’t believe there was nothing like this out there”. I disagree. I provide this type of analysis and more (just only to my small market in Fort Collins and Loveland Colorado). It is amazing to do it nationwide, but I know I’ve already been doing it and will continue to do it.
That is great to hear James. How long does it take you to find an opportunity in the first place on the MLS? Do you use spreadsheets? The point of Revestor is to give agents a better starting point so they can focus in on what they do best. Real estate agents spend hours worth of research and analysis just to find one potential investment opportunity for their investor clients. Their time could be better spent. I asked the question “Why are real estate agents, real estate investors and their analysts using archaic spreadsheets? There has got to be a better way and that is how we came up with Revestor.
I hope it can be a supplement to what you are already doing and be a tool to help you be more effective.
My system does all the calculations in advance and then can sort all of the properties in the MLS by “Fix and Flip Profit Potential”, Capitalization Rate, Cash On Cash Return (Year 1), IRR (5 Year) and my own proprietary ranking system which I call Orr’s Score™. So, it makes finding potential deals super fast, but as you suggest it is just a starting point for the real due diligence.
I also offer a concierge level of service where I will go out (with or without my investor buyer being present) and preview the home for them taking hundreds of photos and doing a even more comprehensive analysis for them with a variety of what ifs.
I do not use spreadsheets at all. It is a 100% web-based application built using a full MySQL database and PHP custom built as an add-on to my WordPress blog so I create blog posts for properties and their analysis.
Yes, giving investors a starting point is exactly what my system is built for too. My system and revestor are really just another, albeit relatively unique, lens to view the properties that are for sale and sort them by criteria where they are more likely to be a deal.
As a real estate broker that caters to investors I totally agree that much of the initial analysis can and should be automated.
Yes your question of why agents are using spreadsheets is a great one; I went even further and asked myself… what are the most frustrating parts of being a real estate investor? As a real estate investor myself, what would I want an agent to offer and do for me.
My list (which is what I offer to my real estate investor clients) includes:
- Analyze all the properties in the MLS and determine their ARV using a variety of data points including recently sold properties in the same subdivision and compare that to list price. Be able to create a list in real-time of the best deals based on that. This is one of my fix and flip lists.
- Analyze all the properties in the MLS by Capitalization Rate and be able to give a list of the best sorted by that. This requires you do a full NOI calculation of each property first (which is also used in later calculations).
- Analyze all the properties in the MLS by Cash On Cash for the first year and be able to give a list of the best properties sorted by that.
- Analyze all the properties in the MLS by a 5 year Internal Rate of Return calculation and be able to give a list of the best properties sorted by that.
- Come up with a list of all the factors that make a property potentially a good deal and list all the properties in the MLS by the ones that have the most of these features.
- Offer to go out and preview the property for my investors (with or without them being there), take hundreds of photos of everything that is good and everything that would need to be fixed or can’t be fixed about the property. Update my property lists with this new data to make the analysis better and more accurate.
- Help structure profitable offers based on this (and other unique analysis).
- Outside the MLS (and this is the big one since it opens up a lot more deals that are much creative and often better for the investor)… put out marketing that I pay for as the agent to find motivated sellers and go out and present creative offers that are rarely done inside the MLS to the sellers for my buyer clients.
- Do all this for the standard 3% commission when it is inside the MLS and a 4% commission if it is outside the MLS and I am doing all brokerage related work.
- And you get the idea…
While the data and being able to sort is great, there is a lot more that frustrates investors and that is just the beginning of what investors really need.
Sincerely,
James
Very cool James! Love it! Sounds like you are the go-to in your area and you really know what your doing. Hopefully we can get you a ton of leads once we launch Colorado. Did you add the CIAS designation to your belt?
My first impression was the nice clean look. The MLS has always been a mess. As a part time licensed real estate sales person and active investor I appreciate the ease of use. However, I noticed search capability was limited to zip codes. For the average property hunter, this is a burden. It’s my opinion that most users would not know the specific zip codes for the locations they are investigating. I’m told this will be fixed as Revestor roll out new features.
Also, it would be nice to see more info on the importance “cap rate” and “cash on cash” etc… Why does an investor performing due diligence care about cap rate?
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Definitely a cool site and one I think is needed – especially as we see investors coming back into the market.
Just a couple of comments:
Name should be spelled REvestor instead of revestor. Or even better, investRE.
Regarding coming up with a valuation algorithm, I’m concerned that those of us in non-disclosure states will only have public information (foreclosures, courthouse auction prices, etc.) factored in. That’s the reason Zillow’s zesstimates are so far off the mark here in New Mexico.
I really like the site and look forward to its inclusion of Santa Fe one of these days!
I have given this site to a couple of investors that I work with and they are HUGE fans! If they like it and use it then that makes me a fan as well!
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Is there a way to search within multiple zip codes at one time?
Hi Spence, thank you for your comment and question. At this time you can only search individual zipcodes in San Diego, Phoenix and Las Vegas. When we roll out our location search you will then be able to search multiple zip codes by searching by ‘city’ or ‘neighborhood’. By the time we hit New Mexico that should be rolled out.
That’s terrific news. Thanks! I’ve been playing around in the other cities and have found several properties I might invest in myself!
Needless to say I am looking forward to the day you roll out Santa Fe.
Thanks for all your hard work, especially seeking user comments, to make this a robust and valuable site.
Your listings in Las Vegas are mostly are out of date.
Yes, Ira, we did notice that we do have a lot of “Pending” listings in Las Vegas. We are working with coming up with a solution to filter pendings out and enable users to search by active and pendings. We think it is important to still showing contingent and pending listings but you are right we do need a filter for them.
Hi Ira, this has been fixed. All ‘Pending’ listings have been removed from the search results. Only ACTIVE listings will show until we add in the advanced searching filters
Dude, let me know when you get this rolled out and I can buy a subscription and embed it on my website for my investor clients to use. Way cool — well done!
I’m a Realtor in Orange County, CA and when I do searches in my area I don’t get near the results I would expect. Are you fully rolled out in the OC?
Hi Glen, yes we are fully rolled out in the OC. I know there has been a lot of merging of MLSs going on so this may be the reason that is causing the coverage issue. We are an approved channel of syndicators such as listhub but brokers most be signed up for listhub and approve our site as a site they would like their listings displayed to. In most cities we usually are able to analyze 65-85% of the active listings on the market. We hope that this issue gets resolved when we rolled out nationwide. If you have any further questions or would like us to address a specific issue feel free to post it here or email our support team. thx!
Dear Revestorians (aka Early Adopters) we appreciate your feedback early on and especially your continued support. What a perfect post to let the first of you know that our iPhone app has been released into the App store and is ready for download. Just like we asked you for your feedback on the site we ask for your rating/review in the app store. Please download the app and give us your honest feedback in the store. We are FINALLY set to launch the rest of the country over the next few weeks and we are excited for you to be a part of it http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/revestor-real-estate-search/id553512083 Thank you!
Great, but you really should think about the iPad version, most investors on the go like a bit more screen to work. Keep up the great work!
Great site guys. A note to your engineers, the NOI result doesn’t update as it should when you move the slider for rent. It’s always off by $100 or more. I’m on a Mac, so that may be a factor, but you should look into it. Other than that, all the above comments will make your site a must for evaluating a property. Good luck!
zmijarez, thank you for the heads up. We will look into this bug.
Would like to see this site available in VA, DC and MD
Hi Patricia, it shouldn’t be too much longer. We will let you know when we are live for the whole country. You can be our tester/ambassador in VA, DC, and MD
FYI:
Your site needs to have a way of eliminating mobile homes.
Hi Austin, we do attempt to filter out mobile homes the best we can. If there are any showing on the site please go to http://www.revestor.com/contact and send us some specific URLs. That would really help us out. Thank you so much
INteresting product. Will there be an Android App?
Android is in the works, our current mobile stats are as follows (and that is why we released iPhone first):
1 Apple 74.09%
2 Samsung 8.11%
3 Motorola 4.22%
4 HTC 3.51%
5 (not set) 2.11%
6 SonyEricsson 2.11%
7 RIM 1.36%
8 LG 0.94%
9 BlackBerry 0.53%
10 Coolpad 0.49%
When are you going to expand to the West Coast?
Hi Josh we are now Nationwide
I searched my neighborhood and all homes are not listed. It was missing a lot of homes for sale. The rents are way off. 2 similar homes are $800 per month different. It does not seem to be a very reliable tool. Zillow seems much better with their values and rent estimates. I could put those values in a spreadsheet for free. I would never pay for this. Sorry.
Hi Lou, thank you so much for your feedback please see the FAQ about the rents http://blog.revestor.com/2012/11/07/faq/
The site is free and you don’t have to pay. Only the Premium Account is $
I love the website! Love the concept! Although the rental rates and prices are a little ambitious or slightly off, it really doesnt take away from the fact that i lt allows investors/ buyers an overhead view of the costs. As with any investment, due diligence should always be done regardless of what one is told. I saw your pitch on Shark Tank and i think that their criticism was wrong and a bit overdone to appease certain viewers. While the site does need some fine tuning, i believe youre on the right track because it offers something totally different from other popular RE sites. Looking forward to seeing Revestor, as well as you, making it big.
I think the listings should have apiture of the property next to them so that one osnt opening unwanted properties which takes some time to open. By doing so, one can scroll through more properties instead of. Clicking on all of them just based on address.
Thanks Jsuarez please read to FAQ. Rents will get better http://blog.revestor.com/2012/11/07/faq/ also to be clear the site is free for everyone. Just the premium account is a subscription fee…
Hey there!
The Sharks were brutal to you, but I do believe you missed giving them some
really valuable information, that I see would actually be conducive to you making
this work.
Unfortuately, when I tried to do a search in Washington state, it came up with “no results”. And, there are only two choices for the investment search. I’m not seeing how this works (which I think would have been a powerful presentation to the sharks).
Can you guide me through an actual “search”? And, let me know if this is used in all 50 states?
Thanks!!!
Hi Carol, WA has limited coverage, see post on limited coverage http://blog.revestor.com/2012/11/06/limited-coverage/ we are working hard on getting more listings in your area
Hi Revestor,
Because I use this website to calculate real estate investment not owner occupied investment it would benefit me if the interest rate assumption was capable of being changed to match an investment rate, not the current owner occupied rate which is lower. thank you!
Brett
Hi Brett,
We are working on making the interest rate be a customizable field, and also we are planing on pre-populating it with the current market rate. We will let you know as soon as this is live.
Regards,
Revestor Team
Cool but rent estimates are way too high for the Casa Grande, Az area
Hi Sarah, thanks for the feedback. The rents will get more accurate over time as we get more comps and more data. In the meantime you can adjust the rents yourself on the detail page (Just use the slider on this example: http://revestor.com/details/4821401/1369-E-RACINE-Drive-Casa-Grande-AZ-85122 ). Also if you could help us out and send us the link of a couple that you are referring to we can override them in the system as a benchmark so the others will be more accurate. Tell us what you think the rent should be… you can Contact Us Here. The Super User accounts are coming soon that allows you to edit and enhance your listings. In the meantime the FAQ is a good resource.
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