If I were a realtor looking for tear-down/lots not listed (St. Paul: for sale, real estate)

[norgefjord]

If I were a realtor looking for SFH infill lot/tear down not listed on MLS for clients with very limited budget how would I go about finding such lots? Does it just come down to driving around neighborhoods, looking for empty spaces and then identifying those lots on various county property tax websites (which is very inefficient & time consuming)? Does anyone know if there is some way on the property tax websites to sort for extra lots/extra square footage?

We've already checked out all of the lots that the city of Mpls has to offer, and while the city may have big plans for building on those lots, I frankly would not (and question the feasibility of obtaining a mortgage for new construction in many of those neighborhoods). We are now looking in St. Paul, basically a corridor, roughly the width of and including West St. Paul northwards.

Any tips, tricks or awesome RE recommendations appreciated!

[yakimono]

Great question!

I keep thinking there must be a hidden market where the decent homes are. Seems like what's coming on MLS is tired, old stuff... with poor layouts and even worse updates.

Maybe one has be inducted into a secret society. Seems to be too much homoestasis between builders, realtors, architects, designers, and so on. Us buyers need a little more empowerment!

I also think if one's an investor rather than a home buyer, there are ways to access the market "upstream". Anyone want to write the expose on that one?

I've tried the county prop. tax websites also--very slow-going. I also heard of someone sending postcards around a neighborhood they wanted to move into, basically saying if you're thinking about selling we're thinking about buying let's talk.

It could just be that technology has not caught up in this field enough to shake it up, just support the same outdated systems and structures.

[StPaulGal]

I live in a rather in-demand neighborhood, and I get postcards, letters, and leaflets encouraging me to sell with fair regularity. Some are sent out by real estate agents trying to drum up business, but a couple have been directly from the individuals who are looking to buy. I'm not sure how effective that is, but it is certainly going on.

[norgefjord]

There must be some other means of the info getting out that a place if for sale. We've been receiving the mls listings for months now with no criteria restrictions other than location and then all of the sudden something will pop up on the mls that is clearly been bought with the sole purpose of 'rehabbing' it and then it suddenly shows up on the market. Heck, I'd be thrilled to do the research myself if I could find a RE agent who could let me know how to tap into this market. I realize agents may not wish to concern themselves with a shared 6% of $50,000, but if anyone knows of agents they could recommend, even that would be a start. It's kind of an ugly market out there.

[yakimono]

I wonder if investors/builders/etc. can make connections with a realtor that us lowly homeowners can't because they are doing it as a business...