Five Great Apps For Real Estate Investors
How many of us remember the “good old days” of real estate investing? Pre-internet, if we wanted information about real estate markets, we had to go digging around in county offices and realtor’s file cabinets to find it.
My how times have changed. Today, “there’s an app” for almost everything. Real estate investment information is literally right at our fingertips and is often accessible free of charge or for a small fee.
Here are five apps that are really helpful for REIs. They do more (and different things) than the Zillows of the world.
InvestorComps: https://www.investorcomps.com
Mark Jackson, InvestorComps’ CEO, has been an active REI for a couple of decades. His REI journey began as an appraiser. InvestorComps proprietary valuation software produces highly accurate prices for single-family homes – basically as close as you can get to a formal appraisal or a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) online. InvestorComps also has a variety of other tools for the REI, especially in virtual investing.
What’s virtual investing? Buying rental real estate anywhere in the country, no matter where you live. Yes, this is the latest trend in the REI world. Go here – https://www.investorcomps.com/vreo and download their free eBook on virtual investing if you want to learn more.
Rentometer: https://www.rentometer.com
From the Rentometer site: We use proprietary technology and data to provide a thorough rent comparison analysis in seconds. With Rentometer, the market rate no longer has to be a mystery. By analyzing recent rental listings in the surrounding neighborhood, Rentometer can calculate rent prices based on location and apartment size, and provide a market rate estimate — or lets you know if you’re paying too much for your rent.
Would I rely 100% on Rentometer to calculate my rental rates? No, but they are a great place to get information when comparing different potential investment properties or double-checking to be sure that you’re charging the right rent to your tenants.
DealCheck: DealCheck – The Leading Real Estate Analysis Software & Calculator
This site gives you a detailed analysis of any property’s investment parameters. Quickly search for properties and import their description, list price, value & rent estimates, property taxes, photos, and more. Or use their step-by-step wizard to enter the data manually.
Instantly view each property’s cash flow, cap rate, ROI, profit from sale, acquisition costs, and more. Explore long-term cash flow projections for rentals and profit projections for flips.
You can use this app from your phone or computer (PC or Mac). A free trial is available.
Auction.com: Auction.com: Real Estate Auctions for Foreclosures and Bank Owned Properties
Here’s a quote for the Auction.com site: Today’s investors need more control, deeper data, added property information, additional interaction, and increased services. So we go beyond the courthouse. Combining our passion for real estate with technology and data science, we created an unrivaled transaction platform that has resulted in $52 billion in sales, 6.3 million registered buyers on Auction.com, 451,000 properties sold to date, 16,000+ properties available for sale, 700+ employees serving the needs of buyers and sellers, and more than 10,000 auctions per year in all 50 states.
Interested in buying foreclosures and bank-owned properties? This could become a very hot market once the foreclosure ban is lifted. Auction.com has learning resources for free, so you can get up to speed.
Personal Capital: https://www.personalcapital.com
Personal Capital is a finance app that allows you to track all of your income, cash flow, and net worth. You can link all of your real estate assets and properties into the app. Talk about a comprehensive system! There’s no more need to look at three apps or sites or bank statements. Put it all on one super convenient dashboard.
Your first question is probably, how much does this cost? Believe it or not, it’s completely free to use. Personal Capital will try and upsell you on their investment advisory services, but you don’t have to go there (unless you want to).
Do you need to be the most tech-savvy real estate investor around to be successful? No, but learning more and increasing efficiency makes sense for everyone. These five apps will help you do both of those things.
If you’re a landlord and no longer have the time or desire to handle rental property management on your own, we can help. Maybe your current property management company is not giving you the top-tier service you deserve. If so, reach out. We are there for you.
Please give me a ring at 914-355-3277 or send me an email at [email protected]. Together, let’s form a plan for you to take full advantage of the current conditions and put in place a robust, long-term program for your success.