Monthly Archives: March 2020

Best Software for Real Estate Investors in 2020

By | Real Estate Software | No Comments

Software can make life a lot easier, and now more than ever, it’s possible for the real estate investor to manage properties from nearly anywhere in the world. There’s a lot out there, but the following are definitely among the tried-and-true choices of the best software for real estate investors.

Best Software for Real Estate Investors in 2020

1. Property Evaluator

You’ve gone to a great deal of trouble to find a deal, and you run home to start crunching the numbers. That takes all afternoon, and by the time you’re done, the property is gone. If that sounds familiar, put an end to it with Property Evaluator.

You can run hard numbers on properties right on the spot in less than five minutes. You can also get a quick 30-year performance projection that takes into account all the key financial metrics, from CAP rate to cash flow. Use the app to compare several properties instantly and then just click a button to create a professional PDF report.

Features and Costs

The free standard version lets you evaluate up to three expenses on a single property, edit the values, save changes, store a photo, and use the built-in mortgage calculator. You can also do semi-annual compounding if you’re considering Canadian mortgages, and you get full support for international units and currencies. You get access to the reports but can’t print or email them.

If you move up to the Premium version at $20, you can add multiple properties and create what-if scenarios. You can email or print performance projections and compare and evaluate multi-unit and commercial properties. Finally, there’s a $40 Pro version with all the features of standard and Premium plus the ability to create portfolios, add multiple photos with captions, estimate costs of improvements, and create your own custom categories for itemizing closing and improvement costs.

2. DealMachine

Dealmachine allows you to enter an address, or even just take a picture with your phone, and get instant data on who owns the property, when it was last bought and for how much, and the approximate current value. If you’re interested, you simply click a button to send an automated note to the owner expressing your interest. If you want to send a more personal message, for a small fee, you can get property owner emails, physical mailing addresses, and phone numbers. Dealmachine is a great way to get talking with sellers, fast.

Features and Costs

In addition to what’s already been mentioned, this app will keep track of your driving route for you, so you never waste time in areas you’ve already been. Even better, if you’ve got more than one person working on finding properties, it will integrate the whole team, so everyone’s map shows what’s been covered. It will also keep track of mileage for tax purposes.

The Basic version runs about $50 a month and allows unlimited owner lookups but only one full-access user. The Professional version is close to $100 a month but allows two full-access users and two limited-access users, more sophisticated personal letters to send to sellers, and lowers the fee for accessing detailed contact info.

3. Property Fixer

If you’re looking to flip properties, this is the perfect software for getting it done. Simply input the information about a property and then get a detailed flip analysis with profit, return on investment, and a thorough analysis of the property before you buy. Whether you’re looking at a short sale, REO, or commercial property, Property Fixer can do it all.

Features and Costs

The free Standard version lets you evaluate up to three expenses and one property. Change your holding period anywhere from 0 to 30 years to see how the numbers update and use the built-in mortgage calculator with payment schedules to get a clear view of expenses. The $20 Premium version lets you create scenarios, compare multiple properties, figure for unlimited expenses, and then create reports you can send by email or print.

The $40 Pro version allows for property portfolios, multiple photos for each unit, and more control for estimated, categorizing, and itemizing your closing and improvement costs.

4. Property Tracker

Property Tracker will replace your accountant and tax adviser costs while saving your hours of time and missed opportunities. This is a Jason Hartman-approved piece of software that makes it simple to make smarter decisions about when to refinance, sell, or remove your PMI.

Features and Costs

There’s a free 30-day trial with this software. After that, you get access to everything for $37 a month or an annual membership of $347. Track monthly income and expenses, get detailed and customizable performance reports, create Schedule E and Schedule of Depreciation documents for your taxes, store all your documents online, and much more.

5. Call Porter

When you’re in the midst of making a deal, you don’t want to miss a single call. Unfortunately, that’s just not possible sometimes. With Call Porter, you never have to worry about that again. This amazingly sophisticated software is actually your access to a live answering service. When you get a call, Call Porter routes it to expertly trained staff who only work with real estate. Meanwhile, the software alerts them to who is calling and why so they can turn the call into whatever you need: an appointment, a lead, or even a negotiation.

Features and Costs

Reps are available to take calls from 8 am to 10 pm, Monday through Saturday. If a call comes in after hours, it gets transcribed and instantly sent via email to Call Porter’s team, who will contact you if it’s something urgent. All the Call Porter reps are based in the US, highly trained exclusively in all things real estate, and go through a 90-day probationary period. Plus, all conversations are recorded, and you can access recordings or talk to the person who took the call.

Pricing is based on your estimated monthly call volume. If you get up to 25 calls a month, the cost is $500 a month. If you’re expecting 150 calls a month, expect to pay just over $1,000, and so on.

Use Them to Your Advantage

The most successful investors know how to find the best software for real estate investors and make it work for them. With the market getting more crowded by the day, keep your place within it through the best software choices.

property tracker app

5 Best Apps to Self-Manage a Rental Property

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Managing your own rental property saves money and allows you greater control and supervision over your investment. You can only realize those benefits, however, if you’re not losing too much time (and thus money also) in the process. Managing an investment property can be a tough job, but there are some great apps that, according to Jason Hartman, will most certainly make the process easier and streamlined.

5 Best Apps to Self-Manage a Rental Property

1. Landlord Studio

Costs

This is one of the cheapest apps out there. There are no setup fees, and you’ll pay just a dollar a month for each unit you add.

Features

Landlord Studio offers tenant screening, income, and expense tracking, and outputs schedule Es when it’s time for taxes. You can also keep track of all your communications with contractors and tenants and send out late rent notices directly from the app, keeping a close eye on when they’re received. The app even allows you to generate leases that are state-specific, so all your bases are covered.

There are some things missing here, though. While this is a great app for communication and can help with taxes, it doesn’t have all the robust features for keeping track of key financial indicators that other apps offer. And while it does play nicely with ZellePay and Venmo, it doesn’t allow for ACH deposits, which are always your smartest choice as a landlord.

2. Spark Rental

Cost

This is a pricier option at $19 a month for 5 units or $39 for unlimited properties. This one does allow ACH withdrawal direct from tenant bank accounts, though there is a 4% charge for that service.

Features

This app allows you to put up ad listings on most of the big sites, like Trulia and Zillow, and offers tenant screening, online rent collection, and income and expense tracking. It also allows you to get schedule Es, send out late notices, and keep track of your communication as well as logs of maintenance and calendar features.

There are some downsides to Spark Rental, however. When things work, they work really well. When something goes wrong, you might not get much help. A common complaint about this app is that it’s hard to get in touch with a real person, especially when too much money is accidentally taken from a tenant’s account or there’s a fee tacked on for the landlord that shouldn’t be there.

3. Property Tracker

Cost

This app is definitely best for covering all the bases, especially if you have multiple properties to work with. The price is comparable to Spark Rental, but you’re getting a lot more value for your dollar. After a 30-day free trial, you spend $37 a month, no matter how many properties you need to track.

Features

Property Tracker is simple to use and integrated across platforms, so you can use it on your phone and then check on things from your computer. In addition to all the basic features offered by the apps already mentioned, this app updates you monthly about your key financial indicators, shows you directly how you can maximize profits and tax savings at the same time, and tracks vacancy rates and lease expirations. It gives you Schedule Es but also Schedule of Depreciation forms, so taxes are simple to calculate.

There’s simply a lot more here than with most apps and for a competitive price. This cloud-based app is easy to customize and has good support for all platforms, including phone, email, and live support, as well as ticket creation. Training is also easy to access and helpfully designed, so you get the most from the app’s features.

4. Propertyware

Cost

Propertyware is an expensive option at $250 a month with no free trial period, though you do get a free demo.

Features

This app works across platforms, though it’s technically a very mobile-friendly website login rather than an actual app for those operating systems. In addition to the basics, this app offers billing and invoicing, insurance management, and late fee calculations. One of its strengths is how highly customizable it is. In many ways, Propertyware adapts itself to you rather than requiring you to adapt to it.

For the price, however, we’d expect this app to be able to do more on the financial side. For most, though, it won’t be an ideal solution, and you may find yourself turning to Quickbooks or paying for an accountant to make up the loss. There are also more technical issues than we’d expect given how expensive it is.

5. Rentec Direct

Cost

Rentec Direct’s pricing is more in line with what we’d expect for the level of service you get. There is a free trial, and then it’s $35 a month.

Features

One of this app’s strengths is how well it plays across platforms and operating systems. The support with this app is very good, though there’s no live training available. Rentec offers you credit checks, an online payment portal, tenant and vacancy tracking, tax management features, and even the ability to manage your website. The tenant database is very helpful, and it will calculate late fees for you automatically as well as keep your portfolio and communication all in one place.

The one stand-out feature of this app is, unfortunately, also where it tends to fall down. It allows you to migrate your website, and if that worked seamlessly, it would be an amazing feature. The problem is that it just doesn’t. HTML coding issues crop up everywhere. Our other complaint is that while it will send reports automatically by email, it doesn’t keep any record of who you sent it to. If you send it or copy it to yourself, you have a copy, of course, but if you send it elsewhere, it would be nice to have a record in the app itself.

In Summary

Property management apps aren’t really just a convenience anymore. They’re essential to effectively manage your investment without wasting any of your valuable time. With the right app, you’ll maximize your investment while minimizing costs and get everything from your property that it should be giving you.