I would like to know where do you get your neighborhood statistics to complete your BPOs. I use Movoto.com, but would like to have other sources.

What kind of stats are you talking about?

Crime, renters vs homeowners, unemployment rate, etc... IMB is asking for a lot of this information on their BPO.

For crime rates, if it's a specific smaller neighborhood w/in a larger city, check to see if they have their own website, or if they have their own local police dept, see if they have a site. I've noticed that a lot if the bigger national sites will include city, or county wide stats, which can really be skewed.

Rent vs own is a little tough. You can check census stats. But those aren't exactly accurate for today's market. But just about any site you go to is going to pull their stats from the last census stats...

Unemployement is, I think done on city, and county wide levels. And usually in a local paper on a monthly basis. Quick Google seach can give current stats for any given area.

Maybe I am a big ol' slacker, but I just depend on my MLS and my knowledge of the market to answer these questions. Especially since the answer possibilities are all relative (exc, good, fair, poor usually). This is why you need to read the paper, the local business journal, watch the news, talk to people and know how you relate to other areas both locally and nationally.

And rent vs. own is pretty easy too. First, you can eyeball a neighborhood and pretty much know who rents and who owns. In an MLS that includes leases, you can pretty much tell. Additionally, some tax databases allow you to search only by non-owner occupied units. That'll give you a good idea of how many are tenant occupied.

But honestly, I just depend on my knowledge of the market. I figure it's my job to know to some degree of certainty.

I have a site that I got from a title company. You might ask the one you use the most if they have something.
Mockingbird

i agree with TB in TX, i just use my knowledge of the area. They are asking us for our Opinion, Always keep that in mind.

Sorry, but I don't that believe a person can have an opinion on statistical data for an area when requested in a BPO. They are requesting our opinion on values for houses. Not the stats themselves.

It seems as if it's a Catch-22. The stats, while gleaned from knowledge of the area, do in turn affect value. You can have a mansion that's located in a ghetto with superior building materials, upgraded materials & finishes that is worth less if located in a crime-infested, rental area with poor schools, than the same structure in an area with low crime, owner occupants with a good school system. Okay, that was an extreme case of economic obsolescence but you can see my point (I hope!).

The crime stat question can usually be answered based on local knowledge. If you read the local newspaper, either in print or on-line, they usually publish that information regularly. Now that may not work in a larger metro area, where there is so much crime that they would need a bigger paper to publish everything.
Usually if I mark "high" under crime area, I have some anecdotal evidence to add to comments, such as "recent murder at intersection of ... and ..., 1 block north" or as happens frequently here, there is some kind of curbside memorial set up within a few hours of a murder.

All the data is in cyberspace for every area I have ever searched for.

We need to also consider other reasoning for clients requesting this info - such as if they have to sell the property what possibilities are there that the property will become a target - therefore they'll need to sell at a lower price to move it ASAP.

Just a thought?

I am finding more reports are kicking out "crime" due to fair house issues...and should not be in the report. I think the end value speaks for itself...

Recovery, you should read your IMB course.

cyberhomes.com

Seriously, they don't have that in the course outline!!!