Market study analysts may encounter hindrances to completing work, particularly related to field work and accessing market information. Disruption to regular office hours for important contacts, such as property managers, HRAs and planning officials, and the onset of teleworking may create delays in analysts’ ability to obtain certain market information. If circumstances restrict analysts’ ability to complete a market study, Minnesota Housing suggests the following alternatives for information-gathering:
Field Work:
- Consult third parties, such as architects or engineers;
- Use internet services, such as Google Earth, Google Street View, Bing or county assessor websites;
- For existing properties, request a virtual tour or photographs of the site from the property manager; and
- For new construction, the developer may also be a resource for photographs.
Surveying Current Rent Data:
- Use alternative data sources for rents;
- Access published information on properties’ or management companies’ websites; and
- Consider aged data from an interview from the recent past (to be disclosed in the report if used).
If any of these alternatives or others are used to produce the market study, the analyst must disclose and detail their methods.
