What Data Do You Use for Property Search Due Diligence?

AssociatedLsimpleone26 @ Hometrics on 27/08/2024 - 17:29
Last edited 27/08/2024 - 18:06 by 2 other users

Hey fellow OzBargainers,

My partner and I recently bought a place in Sydney, and man, what a journey that was. We realised that a lot of the property reports you get, like from CoreLogic or banks, are super focused on sales data—they're there to drive FOMO rather than help people make better decisions.

In true OzBargain spirit, we must resist the FOMO narrative that the real estate market is using to lure homebuyers into paying inflated prices.

With so much at stake, it got me thinking about all the other data out there that buyers should be using for due diligence during the search process. I’ve pulled together some of the top sources we found useful for NSW, and I’m curious—what data do you all rely on when searching for property?

Here are a few sources we used:

Zoning Information: NSW Planning Portal https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/spatialviewer/#/find-a…

DA Approvals: NSW Planning Portal https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/

Land Value: Valuer General NSW https://www.valuergeneral.nsw.gov.au/services/lvs.htm?execut…

Flood Risk: NSW Flood Data Portal https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/water/floodplains/…

Crime Rate: NSW Police Crime Stats https://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/Pages/bocsar_crime_stats/bocsa…

Local School Education Quality Index: My School https://www.myschool.edu.au/

Noise Pollution from Air Traffic: Airservices Australia https://aircraftnoise.airservicesaustralia.com/

Heritage Conservation Search: Heritage NSW https://www2.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/heritage/search-h…

So, what other info do you think is essential when researching properties? Would love to hear what sources or tools have helped you out.

I’ve been thinking that there’s a real need to make all this simpler. There’s so much information out there but it’s scattered across so many places. To help with this, a few friends and I have been working on putting all these data points into a single tool that puts buyers’ interests first, making it easier to get all the info in one place https://hometrics.com.au/

Let me know what you think. Right now, our property search tool is still growing, so we’ve got limited addresses, but if you’re curious about a specific spot, you can request it on the search, and we’ll dig it up for you.

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Comments

  • soan papdi on 27/08/2024 - 17:55

    Great initiative but the summaries are very peppy chatgpt type answers. I am guessing you're feeding it some metrics and generating readable text. The problem is that the chatgpt responses will be neutral overall. Please also show the actual data used to generate those responses in a table somewhere, with say what it can be compared to, like statewise or council wide averages.

    • Associatedsimpleone26 @ Hometrics on 27/08/2024 - 18:34

      Great feedback thank you! We have considered data tabulated search results; the outputs can get quite large quickly considering the context required to understand different property attributes. Current version we are experimenting with simple story based format, to call out the 'so what' factors in light of the various property information and serve people who may not be into the details. Take your point it would be beneficial to elaborate on the data points.

  • Tee Rex Arms on 27/08/2024 - 19:45
    +6

    So this is just an ad for your website. Righto.

    • Associatedsimpleone26 @ Hometrics on 27/08/2024 - 21:25
      -6

      Totally get the skepticism. The site’s free and just something we put together to help other buyers get better info in a market that’s all about selling. Do you think property buyers are well equipped to make informed decisions?

      • Morven on 28/08/2024 - 01:07
        +3

        No, it's an ad for your website. You have a commercial interest.

        "By uploading any documents or files to the platform, you grant the vendor a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, and display such documents or files in any media or format, whether now known or hereafter developed, for any purpose, including but not limited to commercial use."

  • ihbh on 27/08/2024 - 20:36
    +1

    what data do you all rely on when searching for property?

    There is a tonne of data around.

    What insights can you glean from it and how do you convert it into a value vs the asking price/buyer's auction reserve price? Else, your service is just aggregation crap - useless.

    • Associatedsimpleone26 @ Hometrics on 27/08/2024 - 21:51
      -1

      Agreed, data is only useful if you know how to act on it. The idea here is to give buyers more confidence in picking the right property and avoiding the wrong ones early on.

      We’re not saying everyone needs to use our tool, but it’s crucial to dig deeper and not just rely on the selective info from real estate agents. For example, a neighbour of mine bought a place with a standard building and pest report, probably didn’t even read it, and now, a year later, they still can’t move in - turns out there’s asbestos, termites, and heritage site restrictions. Being extra careful, especially in this market, can save a lot of headaches down the road

      • ihbh on 28/08/2024 - 07:12
        +1

        turns out there’s asbestos, termites, and heritage site restrictions

        Suburb?

        Hahaha, I'm calling BS that comment. You're a novice trying to impress inexperienced (potential) property buyers.

        Heritage conservation areas are well known and disclosed by the agents. The combo of those three items is … BS. Also heritage conservation areas are exy, bought by high net worth high income buyers, who are savvy, and/or might use buyers agents, not the pork chops you imply.

        • Associatedsimpleone26 @ Hometrics on 28/08/2024 - 16:37

          Hurstville area in South Sydney—happy to DM you the exact address if you’re interested. The situation is unfortunate; they’ve been stuck trying to restore a whole second floor, and it’s still incomplete after almost 2 years.

          I’m not here to argue, just to share our experience. It’s totally up to buyers to decide how much they trust the info from agents or reports, but sometimes it pays to be extra cautious, especially with something as big as buying a home.

      • JIMB0 on 28/08/2024 - 07:14

        they still can’t move in - turns out there’s asbestos, termites, and heritage site restrictions.

        How does any of that stop someone living in a house and which of your searches would have picked up termites and asbestos? I have asbestos in my house, should I run for my life?

        • ihbh on 28/08/2024 - 07:45

          See my comment re inability to convert the data into a price - this aggregation service by a noob is useless. Say a house has asbestos, but costs 5% less than similar after clean up or left alone. Then you'd be looking for such houses in your search to buy, not what he implies.

          • Associatedsimpleone26 @ Hometrics on 28/08/2024 - 16:52

            @ihbh: In that case, it's great for the buyer who made a risk-adjusted pricing decision. But what if bidder A is informed and applies that 5% discount, while bidder B isn’t aware and ends up overpaying at auction, unaware of the issue?

            I’m genuinely interested in your perspective - what would help you convert data into a price that reflects the value, factoring in potential risks?

            • Euphemistic on 31/08/2024 - 06:20

              @simpleone26: Theres so many factors in pricing a house to purchase, "being informed" isnt going to make 5% difference. You either want it or you dont and you just need to pay more than everyone else if you do want it.

              When buying our last house, one we looked at seemed good. We made an 'informed' offer. The other party just had more money and wanted it more than we did. I'm gonna guess they were no more or less informed than us, just had deeper pockets

        • Associatedsimpleone26 @ Hometrics on 28/08/2024 - 16:44

          Property condition is definitely an area where buyers are at a disadvantage, and it’s something we’re looking to address. We’ve developed a building report analysis tool that flags potential risks like termites and asbestos, especially when the inspector notes inaccessible areas.

          As for asbestos, it’s up to you whether you’re comfortable with it, but wouldn’t you rather know about it upfront before making such a big decision?

  • Euphemistic on 28/08/2024 - 08:06

    Sounds like a good idea. Just make sure you have a really good disclaimer built in somewhere. Would hate for your summary to say 'this house good' but the buyer comes back 2 years later with a bill for half million because it missed something really obvious.

    • Associatedsimpleone26 @ Hometrics on 28/08/2024 - 16:26

      That’s a great point - thanks for the heads-up. We definitely want to make sure buyers are fully aware of what our tool can and can’t cover. Can I ask, are you currently in the market? What’s been working for you so far, and are there any improvements or features you’d like to see in tools like this?

      • Euphemistic on 28/08/2024 - 16:49

        Not in the market, and not planning to. Last purchase was 'local knowledge'

  • wannagrababargain on 28/08/2024 - 13:46

    You're a bit behind the competition https://landchecker.com.au/

    • Associatedsimpleone26 @ Hometrics on 28/08/2024 - 16:22

      Cheers for that. It’s great to see tools like Landchecker and Property.com.au helping buyers stay informed. The downside, though, is that their reports aren’t fully free, which can be a barrier for some homebuyers. Also, while they do a good job with retrieving open gov data, I feel like they could go further by being more comprehensive—things like school quality, crime rates, noise levels, etc.—and presenting those insights in a way that’s simpler and more actionable.

      Have you tried these tools? I’m curious if you’ve found them helpful in deciding which properties to pursue or pass on. What’s working well for you, and what pain points have you encountered with the property information tools out there? It feels like there might still be some gaps that could be better served.

  • James Tabby on 31/08/2024 - 10:14

    I would suggest partnering with flightradar24 or some other type of service instead of using the government sites in relation to aircraft noise data.

    For example, I know Burwood, NSW has very high aircraft noise in the past few years; it got to a point where I had to move.

    • Associatedsimpleone26 @ Hometrics on 02/09/2024 - 22:39

      Thanks for that, will check it out.

      Sorry to hear that you had to move…we were in Stanmore couple of years ago we would lose TV signal and can't hear ourselves think when a plane goes directly over us every 10 minutes during peak hours.

      Noise is a tricky one, flight paths are seasonal and evolves, and people have different tolerances, will be interesting to see a neat way to simplify the information to something simple to use.

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