The practice of calling the Realtor® to squire the buyer around is dust in the wind. Most homebuyers today turn to technology and start with a digital house hunt. According to the National Association of Realtors, that number has skyrocketed to nearly 90% of all homebuyers going the e-shopping for their next home.
Expand that notion to investors, who typically buy, sell or rent out homes repeatedly and technology becomes even more omnipresent and necessary in the day-to-day operation of an investor.
If you’re not an early adopter, that’s okay. There’s still time to get your e-game on. What follows is a list of the top 9 real estate websites and apps that are essential to any real estate investor.
Property Research Tools
Part of your due diligence involves assessing values and the viability of your potential real estate purchase/investment. These sites and apps can give insight into your subject properties more quantifiable aspects such as sales comps, tax values, sales history and more.
CRS – Courthouse Retrieval System. CRS is available in most areas – for a fee. But it provides not only data; it also gives you the capacity to create mailing lists and more. Worth the investment for the DIY direct mailer and the investor who needs to run QAD comps. http://www.crsdata.com/main/
Connected Investors. CI goes way beyond providing data. CI is also the biggest social network for real estate investors allowing for networking along with buying and selling investment properties. www.connectedinvestors.com
Homesnap. Available on the web or as an app, Homesnap gives you real time data from the MLS and other property records. From the web, enter an address. From your Smartphone, snap a photo of the house and the little wizard in your phone gets you the data. www.homesnap.com or at Google play or the iTunes store.
Rentometer. An alternative to Zillow’s rent zestimates, rentometer gives you valuable data for analyzing a property or an area for its rentability. Great for landlords assessing properties to add to their portfolio. Website only. www.rentometer.com
Mapliv. This is a great tool that pulls from area rental listings based on an address or general area. Kind of like Kayak for rentals – it aggregates listings from craigslist, postlets and more. Rather than slogging through multiple sites to assess the competition, let mapliv do it for you. Presently, they do not have an app. But that’s today. Check tomorrow. www.mapliv.com
Productivity Tools
These tools can take the hassles out of the many tasks of the real estate investor – from data analysis to handling administrivia.
Real Estate Calculator. By SNC apps, this handy app allows you quickly and easily run the numbers for cash flowing rental properties. Toss the excel spreadsheets. This one allows you to save and load multiple properties. Look for it at Google play.
Evernote. This is a pretty powerful organization and research tool. Store notes, websites, photos and more. It’s kind of like the American Express Card – you won’t leave home with it. There’s probably more to this app than you’ll ever discover. Available for apple and android.
CamScan. This great little app works like a scanner from your phone. Snap a photo of your document and it converts it to a sendable PDF. Pretty sweet when you need to make copies but can’t lug around that pesky Xerox machine. Available for apple and android.
Networking
Meetup. Not a tool per se, but rather an online community where you can join various groups who meet up in and around your community. Check it out and get your networking on.
Connected Investors. Mentioned earlier for property research and for buying and selling properties, CI has a rich community (wealth as in dollars and wealth as in knowledge) whose entire focus is on successful real estate investing. www.connectedinvestors.com
In his seminal book, “7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” Stephen Covey writes about sharpening the saw. It’s worth taking the time and effort to stop, breathe and then add technologies that make your work more efficient and effective. Sharpen the saw to work smarter, not harder. Real estate investing is fun and profitable. But let’s be honest, at times it’s a pain in the backside – but getting the nuts and bolts tasks doesn’t have to be. Go on, sharpen your saw