About Hyperlocal Market Analysis

The MLS is a huge database of current and historical information that influences every residential real estate transaction. But to most people, Realtors included, the MLS is little more than sheets of paper sprinkled with listing information. That was before the development of Game Changer, and its underlying technology, Hyperlocal Market Analysis.

The idea for Hyperlocal Market Analysis was born when I was an active investor in real estate. I had asked a number of Realtors whether single-, two-, three- or four-family houses would sell the fastest after rehab. They had plenty of opinions, but few facts to back them up. So I built my own market analysis system. It showed me that towns, price points, and housing types each had their own supply and demand profiles. The result was better sell-side deals, because I could target my acquisitions to sell into market segments with the most buyers. That tends to influence both selling prices and the speed with which deals can be done.

The analysis system exploded into a much more ambitious program in the wake of the busted real estate bubble, and the resulting decline in residential real estate prices. For example,
as a career marketer, I know that markets (towns) and market segments (price points within towns) were unlikely to move, uniformly, up or down, and that the generalized negativity that permeated real estate markets was not likely reflective of local market realities. However, there wasn't an analysis tool that was sensitive enough to see those realities. So, work began in earnest on Hyperlocal Market Analysis.

Professional Acclaim for Hyperlocal Market Analysis “I finally checked your web site!!! It is fantastic to be able to present that kind of updated and accurate information to clients in different neighborhoods!” Realtor in Texas “Buyers and sellers are really interested in what's going on in their local markets, at their price points. The rest is pretty much meaningless. Real Estate is truly a very local business.” Realtor in NYC Metro “I can't believe you've been able to pull all this stuff out of the MLS. I didn't even know it was there.” Realtor in upstate NY

The so-called elevator pitch for Hyperlocal Market Analysis goes like this: Hyperlocal Market Analysis processes bulk MLS data in order to uncover the relationships between the flow of money, time and inventory in residential real estate markets. These relationships, which are observable in every market and at every price point, show that: (1) towns are a cluster of price-point-defined markets, each having its own supply and demand profile; (2) the degree of buyer interest in towns varies greatly, thereby causing some home owners to sell too low, and some buyers to buy too high; (3) the hyperlocal analysis of time-on-market not only leads to the more effective marketing of homes, it enables buyers to strike better deals. Importantly, Hyperlocal Market Analysis does not eliminate the need for Comparative Market Analyses using comps. What it does do is disclose the circumstances behind those comps. This is important because it’s often assumed that comps of recently sold homes represent the current real estate market. That’s like seeing a Ford Edsel on the road in 1959 and assuming that Edsels, which the Washington Post called “America's most-hyped failure,” were selling like hotcakes. So, just as one sold Edsel most assuredly didn’t represent the nearly non-existent market for Edsels, neither does a comp or two represent the real estate market.

Now, here’s the bad news. Hyperlocal Market Analysis is available only in the towns (markets) that I analyze. That said, if you want to sell or buy in one of those markets, that’s really all that matters. However, I will be happy to add north Jersey towns on request. Finally, when I became a Realtor, I had no investment in business-as-usual, or in doing things the way they were always done. What I did have was an understanding that challenging times require a hyper-smart approach to doing business. So I created it. That's what I bring to the table. It's a table we should sit at together.

My name is Brian McCabe. I am a licensed Realtor with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage (973-226-2577) and I am available to speak to church and civic groups about residential real estate markets in North Jersey and, of course, I invite your business. You can reach me directly at 973-865-1863 (cell), bmccabe362@wessex-homes.com (email), or at 973-226-2577 (office).