by Brian Brady
Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL
I received an email, from BHB Anaheim presenter Bill Lyons, that Revestor.com is live now and will be announced to the public tomorrow. Bill knows that the Bloodhound way is to fly under the radar, sneak in the back door, and quietly win so I appreciate the chance to break the news.
Revestor.com is a new property search site. It’s unique proposition is that it allows users to search by either capitalization rate or cash flow. Revestor believes it will become a useful tool for both investors and primary residence home buyers. Bill Lyons suggested that its unique ranking display, offers data to a home buyer, which is currently unavailable. Incorporating the income potential of a property offers another valuation model for home buyers to consider.
I ran a search for an area with which I’m familiar; Oceanside, CA zip code 92056. I searched for properties listed from $150,000 to $250,000, by cash flow, and ten current listings were displayed. The top two listings appealed to me:
3906 Marvin – a 3BR 2BA, 1064 s.f. SFD with $902 of free cash flow, with an 80% LTV loan, listed at $169, 767
3132 Glenn – a 4BR 2BA, 1302 s.f. SFD with $533 of free cash flow, with an 80% LTV loan, listed at 249,900
Revestor offers a “launch” blog post and I’ll insert Bill’s comments from there (italicized), as I offer my ideas here.
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.
Bill offered: While San Diego 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.
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 the data look pretty high 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 too ambitious. That should improve as they secure live mortgage feeds.
Bill offered: 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
All in all, Revestor,com is a great tool with a limited reach. Tomorrow, it works for San Diego County agents and home buyers, If Revestor,com wants to last past their cash burn rate, it is going to have to add new markets…quickly. I’ve know Bill for five years now and I’ve seen him build profitable businesses pretty quickly. If I had to bet on on a horse race, I’d bet on the Lyon. Give Bill your feedback and don’t be too kind. He’s a big boy who can handle constructive criticism.
Bill Lyons says:
You can see all the comments/feedback and responses here http://blog.revestor.com/2011/11/29/what-do-you-think/
I will also be subscribed to this BHB comment feed as well so I will be more than happy to answer any questions or address feedback here at BHB. Thank you all!
November 30, 2011 — 2:02 am
Mark Madsen says:
Congrats Bill. I know how much work it takes to launch a new online project. Looks like you’ve put a lot of time into Revestor.com. It’s a clean site and easy to navigate. Good luck.
November 30, 2011 — 9:17 am
Don Reedy says:
I commented on Bill’s blog, and appreciate the forward looking methodology of asking for real input in the early stages of launching a product. The ability to take a punch, as well as not bask too fully in friendly adoration, is what these guys have, and it’s a welcome approach.
There is much work to be done, since capturing market share is not for the faint of heart. But the idea of monetizing and providing financial insight into the process of buying a property is pretty darn good. Those of us who have signed up and begun the process of seeing and helping this site work have already benefited from looking at another side of the RE puzzle.
Best of luck with the evolution of your idea, Bill.
November 30, 2011 — 8:45 pm
Eric Blackwell says:
Bill;
First off, congrats on the launch. It was good to talk shop with you and others have said, it was a refreshing change to have someone come in with a “help me make this better” approach…
Will be commenting on your blog shortly, as well as putting some stuff up in other places.
best
Eric
December 1, 2011 — 9:38 am
Michael Cook says:
Congrats on the great idea. Have you tried using Yieldstar for your rents or some other multifamily rental program?
December 1, 2011 — 12:15 pm
John Wingate says:
Great job on the new idea and the launch! The site looks great and the time it takes to make a site we want to make sure its presentable and want others to easily navigate.
December 1, 2011 — 12:44 pm
Bill Lyons says:
Sorry everybody for not replying quicker. Ive been running around like a chicken with my head cut during the launch. Mark and John thank you for the kind words…Mark, maybe we can open Vegas sometime between San Diego and the national launch.
Yes, Don and Brian “More bees with honey” We do truly believe that user experience is key and if we ask enough people what they ultimately want from a search site and then build it we will be successful. “Built it and they will come”
Michael we use our own estimated rent # and range algorithm…and it will get more accurate over time. we are always open to looking into other datafeeds as reference points. Thank you all for the support and make sure to enter the contest (it ends in less than 48hrs)
December 1, 2011 — 3:08 pm
James says:
I did some test searches. There are a fair amount of properties that show a positive cash-flow, but that are clearly not rentable in their current state. These properties also had verbiage in the description that might allow you to filter them out of a search (as-is, disrepair, condemned).
Of course, some people might be able to buy and fix up distressed properties, although I suspect that those people would be more plugged into the local real estate scene. Anyway, you could also allow people to filter/search for bargains that require a lot of work.
December 1, 2011 — 3:30 pm
Bill Lyons says:
Great feedback and point James. Right now we know we need to full location search by address, neighborhood, MLS# and city. We will have an ‘advanced search’ that allows you to narrow down your filters even more based on your exit strategy. (i.e. rehab and resells) In the meantime users can go to the detail page, scroll to the bottom and select their exit strategy ‘buy & hold’ or ‘rehab & resell’ try playing with the ‘rehab & resell’ and see what you can come up with. I’d be interested to see if the numbers go in your favor on that particular property
December 1, 2011 — 3:59 pm
Johnny Brooks says:
This site seems easy to use and much more detailed than any other home search site. Thank you for sharing.
December 2, 2011 — 8:58 am
Adriana Cyrus says:
Good job! Congrats. Hope that soon it will be be available around the country or even internationally 🙂
December 2, 2011 — 1:30 pm
Robert Kerr says:
Brilliant!
December 26, 2011 — 9:24 am
Bill Lyons says:
Thank you Robert!
December 30, 2011 — 2:47 pm