siftAO
Explore, visualize, and screen any U.S. market before you commit. 130+ indicators. State to ZIP level.
Origin
I was handed an APN for raw land in a state I'd never visited. No comps, no context — just a parcel number and a seller's conviction. My family committed. A decade later, we're still waiting on the upside.
That gap — between what a seller presents and what the market actually shows — is why siftAO exists. After a decade in real estate across residential sales, acquisitions, and portfolio management, the pattern was consistent: investors make six-figure commitments based on a single proforma, one site visit, or one local contact.
The data to do better has always existed. It was just scattered across Census.gov, FRED, and MLS exports — and most investors don't have the time to stitch it together. siftAO does the integration so you can run a full market screen before you book anything.
What this is
siftAO doesn't tell you what to buy or how to structure the deal — that depends on the property and the investor. It gets you to the point where you know whether a market is worth pursuing at all.
Find markets you haven't considered.
50 states. County and ZIP level. Start with a map, a score, or a state index.
See the area in the data — not just a number.
Demographics, income distribution, housing age, supply gaps. Choropleth maps down to census tract level.
Five minutes. Full market read.
Demographic profile, FRED economic indicators, Redfin transaction data. 130+ data points. Before you commit time or capital.
Go further or move on.
That's the only output that matters. The data shows whether the fundamentals clear your screen — you apply your own threshold.
Data sources
American Community Survey
Population, age distribution, income, race, education, housing value, rental market, vacancy, household type. State · County · ZIP · Tract.
Federal Reserve economic data
Unemployment, GDP, building permits, house price index, per capita income, labor participation (state). National mortgage rates, jobless claims and delinquency. State · County · National.
Housing market transactions
Median sale/list price, days on market, inventory, months of supply, sold above list, sale-to-list ratio. Filterable by property type. State · County · ZIP.
Realtor.com
Market hotness score, national hotness rank and its change, median days on market, median list price. County · ZIP.
What you can do
Verify the proforma rent number
Pull median rent by bedroom count for any ZIP. Compare it against what the seller is projecting.
Confirm the market trend before you underwrite
Redfin transaction data — median sale price, days on market, months of supply, sale-to-list ratio. See whether the market is heating or softening, not what a stale comp claims.
Screen fundamentals against Bawa criteria
Population growth, income, home prices, unemployment, job growth, poverty, crime — ranked A through D across every scored county and ZIP in the U.S.
Follow the markets you’re in
Trend lines and forecast ranges for the core Redfin market metrics. See when a market you own starts to turn.
Who this is for
What the people who use this share isn't a credential — it's a situation. They're evaluating a market they don't already know.
Out-of-state investors
Screening markets they can't visit weekly. Need to know the fundamentals before they book a flight.
Foreign investors
Decoding U.S. micro-markets for the first time. Census tract data and market conditions in one place, not scattered across agencies.
Small developers
Validating market feasibility before committing. Permit activity, income trends, housing supply — before the LOI goes out.
Multifamily developers
Running an apartment development thesis with real demographic and market data — not a broker's deck.
Portfolio managers
Tracking fundamental shifts across multiple regions. Population trajectory, income growth, employment — the leading indicators, not the lagging ones.
Philosophy
“Locals know the vibe.
You have the data.”
We don't predict markets. We don't sell hype. We show you what has happened — population, income, housing, economic activity — clearly, from state to tract level.
The strategy is yours.
Before the flight. Before the meetings. Before the spreadsheet.
Free access. No card required. Start with any county or ZIP.