Real estate investment is a competitive business, be it private or institutional. Whether you are looking to invest in a home, juggle a few rentals, or dabble in income-generating property, investing is all about smarts and it\u2019s never been easier to work smarter rather than harder in this digital age.\u00a0The resources available for the modern real estate investor have evolved towards maximizing productivity and efficiency, improving accuracy of data, investment analysis, bookkeeping and other \u2018administrivia\u2019\u2014making it easier and less time-consuming to conduct your business.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s always wise to use more than one source for your investment research, especially now that the online medium eliminates a great deal of legwork. To this end, we\u2019ve put together a list of 24 tools and resources every real estate investor should know about. Read on to learn about the features each tool has to offer.<\/p>\n
Currently boasting more than 8,000 franchised offices spread across more than 75 countries,\u00a0Century21<\/a>\u00a0is one of the most recognized names in real estate. With their help, you can research investment opportunities and gain access to an impressive wealth of data. In addition to property feature details, profiles include area demographics, commuter and occupancy statistics, local weather patterns, school ratings, and more. You can also tap into the\u00a0Century21 Commercial<\/a>\u00a0system and get knowledgeable professional consultancy services that can help you assess various opportunities.<\/p>\n The\u00a0RE\/MAX<\/a>\u00a0platform search results include local hazard data (such as earthquake probability), detailed local demographics, occupancy info, amenity ratings, and unemployment information.<\/p>\n Compass<\/a>\u00a0has left its mark on the industry by being technology-focused. With an elegant and informative website, as well as the company\u2019s intuitive \u201cCompass Homes\u201d and \u201cCompass Markets\u201d mobile apps, the real estate services company brings up-to-date property and market information to your fingertips.<\/p>\n Coldwell Banker<\/a>\u00a0is another well-known brand in the field, which allows you to connect to well-versed professionals. You can search for a Coldwell Banker investment advisor by area, specialty market, and language spoken.<\/p>\n CommercialCafe’s sister website\u00a0Point2Homes<\/a> is another essential tool for real estate investors. The online real estate marketplace covers nearly 70 countries and allows you to search for various property types for sale, as well as connect with professionals that can provide valuable local information to help you make an informed investment decision.<\/p>\n The\u00a0ZipRealty<\/a>\u00a0mobile app is highly rated, neatly organized, syncs across devices, and makes it very easy to connect with top-rated realtors (ratings included!).<\/p>\n If you are looking to invest in foreclosed or bank-owned property, search engines like\u00a0RealtyTrac<\/a>\u00a0are a good place to start. This data collection site aggregates information from various public notice sources and saves you a lot of the legwork that is otherwise required to build a list of potential investment opportunities.<\/p>\n Unless you have endless resources at your fingertips, it is quite difficult to navigate the \u2018big game\u2019 investment field on your own. Commercial real estate has risen to the high-status of investment class<\/a>\u00a0over the past few decades, and the only way to ensure success in this league seems<\/em> to be placing your money with a REIT or an investment fund that can make decisions for you, while offering little transparency in return. There are other ways.<\/p>\n Among the modern enterprises that are looking to disrupt that \u201cgatekeeper\u201d status held by REITs and investment funds is\u00a0Cadre<\/a>: a technology-enabled real estate platform that curates investment opportunities and makes qualified selections available to individual investors who can purchase a stake in any project.<\/p>\n Fundrise<\/a>\u2019s crowdsourcing model allows investors to participate in deals for as little as $500, and, since there are no third-party intermediaries, fees are significantly lower.<\/p>\n RealtyShares\u00a0is another enterprise that works towards lowering the barriers to entry and democratizing real estate investment. This online platform gathers together investors, borrowers, and sponsors to crowdfund real estate investments, and has so far raised over $700 million, which were used to fund more than 1,000 projects.<\/p>\n The\u00a0SimplifyEm property management software<\/a>\u00a0is among the easiest to use, for landlords, property managers and tenants alike. Offering affordable subscription options, sign-up includes training, software updates, and unlimited customer support. You can use SimplifyEm to track income and expenses, collect rent online, and track and organize paperwork.<\/p>\n RDM<\/a> are early pioneers in commercial real estate technology, offering building measurement solutions that allow you to better market and manage your portfolio. RealAccess is RDM\u2019s property and space management software, a valuable resource of interactive floor plans, documents, stack diagrams, and analytics.<\/p>\n ProAPOD<\/a>\u00a0offers management and analysis tools for new, as well as seasoned investors.\u00a0Agent6<\/strong>\u00a0is their real estate investment software solution that is easy to use and is a good fit for any real estate investor who is either new to the business or less actively engaged.\u00a0Executive10<\/strong>\u00a0is the ProAPOD resource that offers more in-depth considerations on cash flows, rate of return computations, tax computations, sales proceeds, and more.<\/p>\n Real Property Metrics<\/a>\u00a0was designed to be a professional and cost-effective Discounted Cash Flow analysis software solution for commercial real estate. You can use it for all commercial property types: office, retail, industrial, multifamily, mixed-use, hospitality, self-storage, and even student housing.<\/p>\n With\u00a0ClientLook<\/a>,\u00a0you get a hassle-free, all-inclusive CRM (Customer Relationship Management) solution that combines contact management, property tracking, deal making,\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0a Virtual Assistant service.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n RealNex<\/a>\u00a0consolidates multiple solutions to offer a comprehensive product suite that assists commercial real estate professionals through every step of a deal, including asset analysis, sale and lease comparables, transaction and data management, and CRM.<\/p>\n The Property Capsule<\/a>\u00a0platform offers cloud-based technology that allows you to move all your investment data off paper and onto a suite of applications for web, mobile, iPad, print, desktop, Kiosk, email, APIs, and more. Features include automated marketing materials, centralized management of information, online deal making, data-driven interactive maps, and portfolio review tools.<\/p>\n Voyanta<\/a>\u00a0has the same idea, offering a cloud-based service that allows you to securely and conveniently connect all your information in one place, save time with automated data verification, as well as assess and manage your investments with its business intelligence tools.<\/p>\n Using\u00a0SharpLaunch<\/a>, you can market your investment properties by easily customizing and launching commercial property websites that are specifically crafted to capture the interest of prospective tenants. The SharpLaunch CRE website design feature allows for custom domain selection, full content management, and offers solutions that are modern, mobile- and SEO-optimized, and adaptable to represent any commercial property type.<\/p>\n Besides the online resources that are meant to replace the legwork, every investor needs tools that deal with the all-important analysis part.\u00a0CrediFi<\/a>\u00a0is one that leverages 200 billion data points to deliver a wealth of financial data and analytics, to bring transparency to the financing of loans backed by commercial properties across the U.S., and to power smarter investments.<\/p>\n REscour<\/a>\u00a0is a tool that collects market intelligence to assist in identifying investment opportunities. It provides interactive maps featuring data for over 166 markets, up-to-date local CRE news, listings, developments, property information, and more.<\/p>\n The Analyst Pro<\/a>\u00a0offers analysis and property reports, maps, measurement and aerial visualization tools, as well as calculators for mortgages, cap rates, and time value of money (TVM).<\/p>\n Valuate<\/a>\u00a0is a property financial analysis and transaction marketing platform created by\u00a0REFM<\/a>, which analyzes office, retail, multifamily, hotel, self-storage, and residential flip valuations. Furthermore, \u201csensitivity tables\u201d offer insights into the risks and opportunities of prospective transactions, while \u201csmart alerts\u201d notify you about potential underwriting oversights, so you can safely tend to your real estate financial modeling activities.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Real estate investment is a competitive business, be it private or institutional. Whether you are looking to invest in a home, juggle a few rentals, or dabble in income-generating property, investing is all about smarts and it\u2019s never been easier to work smarter rather than harder in this digital age.\u00a0The resources available for the modern…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":16891,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[37,38,2547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commercial-real-estate-news","category-deals","category-resources","wpautop"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRE\/MAX<\/h4>\n
Compass<\/h4>\n
Coldwell Banker<\/h4>\n
Point2 Homes<\/h4>\n
ZipRealty<\/h4>\n
RealtyTrac<\/h4>\n
Up Your Investment Game with the Right Partners<\/em><\/h3>\n
Cadre<\/h4>\n
Fundrise<\/h4>\n
RealtyShares<\/h4>\n
Managing and Marketing Your Investment Portfolio with a Little Help from These Tools<\/em><\/h3>\n
SimplifyEm<\/h4>\n
RDM<\/h4>\n
ProAPOD<\/h4>\n
Real Property Metrics<\/h4>\n
ClientLook<\/h4>\n
RealNex<\/h4>\n
The Property Capsule<\/h4>\n
Voyanta<\/h4>\n
SharpLaunch<\/h4>\n
Tools That Do the Investment Math<\/em><\/h3>\n
Credifi<\/h4>\n
REscour<\/h4>\n
The Analyst Pro<\/h4>\n
Valuate<\/h4>\n