Meyers Group Offers Residential Real Estate Research

By George Walsh, Hacienda Network Staff Writer

The old adage "location, location, location" frequently holds true in attributing value to real estate. However, assessing the present value or predicting the future value of a location can be tricky. For that information, many home builders rely on research organizations like the Meyers Group.

The Meyers Group is America's largest source for residential real estate information research and consulting services. Covering 75 of the top U.S. markets, the Meyers Group gives its clients access to the nation's largest data warehouse and most experienced consultants. Meyers Group research methodologies include quarterly "on-site" visits and monthly surveys of new home subdivisions, in addition to reconciliations directly with builders' corporate offices. The firm collects over 200 variables for each single-family subdivision, including: plan-level pricing and size, sales, inventory, standard features, amenities and options. As a provider of market information and business advice to the residential development industry since 1985, Meyers Group helps customers analyze and interpret key trends impacting the housing market with proprietary software products and research reports.

"We are a real estate information and consulting firm," says Rick Baldonado, regional director for the Meyers Group. "Our clients are primarily the home builders, developers, and financial institutions." The Meyers Group has a database of all new residential housing subdivisions in over 14 different states to which its clients can subscribe. "Let's say a client is looking at a particular property to build out in Stockton," Baldonado says. "They want to know what the competitive landscape looks like out there. How fast are the houses selling? What's the appreciation as a product? Does it justify us spending $10-$15 million for this site based on what's happening on the market now and what's coming in the future? We offer complete supply and demand analysis of residential housing." Local customers include Ponderosa Homes and KB Homes.

In all, the Meyers Group has over 200 employees. The company's headquarters is in Costa Mesa, California and it has two other California offices in Pleasanton and Sacramento. Ten people work out of the office at 5674 Stoneridge Drive. "Hacienda is kind of the epicenter where a lot of the home builders are located out here in the East Bay and Tri-Valley," Baldonado says. "We're close to the South Bay. We're close to the Central Valley. It's easy access for us, and it's strategic from that standpoint."

The Meyers Group works with more than 6,000 customers, helping clients with its nationwide database containing more than 25,000 new home projects. Meyers Group's online and desktop data and analysis products, consulting services, published research, and events serve as a formidable resource for understanding the residential construction market. The company operates nationwide, serving and tracking U.S. markets with more than 30 offices.

Photo: Stephen Smiley, Sabrina McHenry, Evan Sharp, and Ken Lee have all the information when it comes to residential real estate.

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