Let me explain - most of us started our own businesses for one reason - to make money! Of course, money is a good thing, but sometimes we are so focused on it that we forget there can be value in other means of exchange.

I am talking about service exchanges, barter and like. Offering your service in exchange for another can have a profound effect on your business, as well as increase your credibility.

How?

Here's a scenario:

A visitor comes to your site, is interested in your service and contacts you with their enquiry. They tell you that they don't have a lot in their budget right now (for whatever reason), but that if you'll agree, they will give you one year's free posting at their ad site in exchange for your services.

Now, before you hit "Reply" and decline offer, think about it - you could be throwing away literally thousands of dollars in sales by saying no!

Let's say that this person's ad site costs you $12 each time you place a 30 day 'premium' ad. That's $144 per year. Those premium members probably get listed at top of page in bold text. Great exposure for you! In a nutshell, they are offering you an entire year's worth of premium advertising for just a few hours' work!

1. Doing Your Own Research 2. Internet Searches 3. Service Companies 4. Access to MLS

DOING YOUR OWN RESEARCH Within this category, there are four subcategories. Those are:

 Courthouse Searches  Newspaper Listings  Tax Appraisal Districts  Master Neighborhood Courthouse Searches If you live in a state that is discloses property sales information, you will have a much easier time than those of us who live in a non-disclosure state, like Texas. My understanding for disclosure states is that information on sales can be found at courthouse if you're willing to spend necessary time. From that information you could devise your own methodology for determining comps. Certainly, it would be beneficial to know history of a target property which you can look up while you're there, but I think this would be very slow and probably not worth your efforts if only goal is to get comparable sales data.

Newspaper Listings In some states sales information is listed in local newspapers so you could get a feel that way or create your own database and update it periodically. Again, I think this is a slow way to get things done, but it may prove useful to you in some circumstances.

Tax Appraisal Districts In my area, tax assessed values provided by tax appraisal districts are frequently useless. You'll have to get a feel for this in your area as you may find that assessed values are close in many neighborhoods.

Master Neighborhood Probably most accurate way is to spend necessary time to master your farm areas. By this I mean learning values for certain neighborhoods that you target. You can speak with Realtors, attend open houses, view as many floorplans as possible, etc. until you can drive by a house at 30 mph and know within a reasonable range what property will be worth in good condition. This information comes in extremely handy when talking to sellers on phone. If a seller calls you and tells you house is in ABC subdivision, it's a three bedroom, two bath, two car garage house and it's 1,500 square feet, it's nice to immediately know market value in your head.

INTERNET SEARCHES

I know some investors use online searches to determine value. I tried this when I first started and found information to be outdated and not even close to what I consider a comp. For example, at time Austin, Texas market was appreciating almost one percent per month. Retrieving sales numbers that were almost a year old and five miles away from my target property was useless. If you're in a disclosure state, this methodology may prove more helpful. I haven't used or even looked at any of these sites for this purpose in years, but here's an initial list you could view, although keep in mind that some of these may be regional-specific. www.Realtor.com www.Homeradar.com www.Homegain.com www.Yahoo.com www.Domania.com

I'm sure you can find many more sites like these if you'll spend time to do so. SERVICE COMPANIES

Some investors subscribe to services that provide sales information. This can be in form of software in form of CD's that are sent out periodically or it could be an online service where you login to retrieve information. I've never used any of these services and typically, reviews are mixed as to their usefulness. Again, that may come down to whether or not your state discloses sales information. Here's a list for you to check out:

First American Real Estate Solutions (www.firstamres.com) Dataquick (www.dataquick.com) Netronline (www.netronline.com) CD-Data (California only - www.cd-data.com)

ACCESS TO MLS

Having access to Realtor's proprietary information that is available in Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is invaluable. In my opinion you should begin working toward this goal regardless of which comp methodology you plan to use or currently use. Again, there are several ways to accomplish this goal:  Ask or Hire Someone to Help  Become a Realtor  Obtain an Associate Membership  Relationship Access