Software - tools of the trade

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Software - tools of the trade

Account Closed
Real Estate Investor · London · Member since 2008 · 3k+ posts · 74 votes

I started investing in real estate back when PCs were a new idea and the Mac was an internal project at Apple. That should almost date me.

I am curious what people use to analyze 1-4 unit residential deals? I am limiting this to analyzing deals. If you want to discuss property management or bookkeeping lets start a separate thread.

I will start.

What do others do? If you use something specific and you did not roll your own could you name names? I am interested in seeing what is out there. I know that if I had a package I could present deals to lenders better. Granted even that is not a high priority most of the time.

So, please name names as to the packages. If you use a specific spreadsheet from a particular organization also share. CCIM is one organization that has some free sheets. They are mostly a commercial organization.

Oh, I am a Mac user (Unix by trade, Mac for productivity). It would help if you knew what operating system is required. If you do not know that is fine as Google will likely provide the answer.

Thanks in advance.

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  • Account Closed
    Member since 2008 · 20 posts · 0 votes
    19y

    I use the landlord cash flow analyzer program. works pretty good and analyzes all the numbers i need to see plus more

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  • Account Closed
    OP
    Real Estate Investor · London · Member since 2008 · 3k+ posts · 74 votes
    19y
    Originally posted by "Rolex888":
    I use the landlord cash flow analyzer program. works pretty good and analyzes all the numbers i need to see plus more

    Any details on where I might find more info on the program? I would like to check out what it does and how it presents its results (pretty graphics, tables, etc).

    Thanks in advance

    John Corey

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  • Richard F.
    Honolulu, HI · Member since 2008 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    19y

    If you have a PDA-->

    http://www.geek-to-go.com/realestate.html

    Pretty handy bit of software...

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  • Account Closed
    OP
    Real Estate Investor · London · Member since 2008 · 3k+ posts · 74 votes
    19y
    Originally posted by "Beachbum":

    Pretty handy bit of software...

    I will take a look. I am a bit of a gadget guy.

    John Corey

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  • E L
    Member since 2008 · 20 posts · 1 vote
    19y
    Originally posted by "REI":
    I started investing in real estate back when PCs were a new idea and the Mac was an internal project at Apple. That should almost date me.

    I am curious what people use to analyze 1-4 unit residential deals? I am limiting this to analyzing deals. If you want to discuss property management or bookkeeping lets start a separate thread.

    I will start.

    What do others do? If you use something specific and you did not roll your own could you name names? I am interested in seeing what is out there. I know that if I had a package I could present deals to lenders better. Granted even that is not a high priority most of the time.

    So, please name names as to the packages. If you use a specific spreadsheet from a particular organization also share. CCIM is one organization that has some free sheets. They are mostly a commercial organization.

    Oh, I am a Mac user (Unix by trade, Mac for productivity). It would help if you knew what operating system is required. If you do not know that is fine as Google will likely provide the answer.

    Thanks in advance.

    With analysing cash flow properties there are several applications you can use such as real estate nootebooke ($50), Intellipoint pro ($2k), SimpleRemote ($189) or if you ever bought any of david lindalh's apartment course you would receive his version of an analysis software to run the numbers.

    My favorit ones are the intellipoint pro but yes its very expensive but give you a full porfolio run down on just about you can think of. I love the simple remote one for quick 1 year analysis and yu can also use it to manage you other properties in your portfolio. Real estate notebook is just as cool and less expensive bu lacks additional feature that would make the product even better such as being able to add additional fields for expenses rather than lumping them in one big expense but the pie charts are way to in the program and come in color which i love.

    David's software is also great and provides features very close to intellipoint pro and would recommend to buy as it might be cost affective rather than buying something more expensive.

    Over all they all do the same things which is to evaluate the cash on cash and roi per year. Whether you have 1 unit or 1000+ units. Its all about the yearly cash flow and return on your investment.

    If i had to choose it would be the Intellipoing Pro hands down it beats all of the other applications out there and its very powerful. I bought the cheaper ones first and finally saved enough to buy it and i love it.

    If you ever get a chance i recommend buying it and you will never regret making such an investment on it. It will help you see the deal from all angles.

    I hope this helps and what ever product you use remember to stick to a comfortable realistic rate of return a year and never settle.

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  • Joshua D.Pro Member
    BiggerPockets Founder · HI · Member since 2008 · 16k+ posts · 5k+ votes
    19y

    We offer a FREE property analysis tool here on this site. I think it will help you with your needs . . .

    http://www.biggerpockets.com/recritic.html

    Podcast Guest on Show #100
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  • Rico Camacho
    Developer · CA · Member since 2008 · 14 posts · 0 votes
    19y
    Originally posted by "REI":
    Originally posted by "Beachbum":

    Pretty handy bit of software...

    I will take a look. I am a bit of a gadget guy.

    John Corey

    I like your choice of software. I am also curious if you live in the UK or the US? I see your address in your profile and your Blog is all about the UK Real Estate market.

    Just curious....

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  • N/A N/A
    Member since 2008 · 55 posts · 0 votes
    19y

    As I am studying to be an Accountant, I have tons of experience with excel. I would assume that if you were experienced enough with excel, you could create roughly any type of "analysis" tool you wanted in it. As long as you have the correct formulas, and internal knowledge of how each of the processes work. I suppose a special software package could be useful if you didn't want to spend the time but were willing to spend the money. IMHO, Excel has been excellent for me in terms of investing in other things such as the stock market, and managing my personal finances. Taking the time to crunch the numbers allows me to get a more intimate level of knowledge of the investment at hand too.

    I suppose I am a little biased though, since I am forced to use excel for many of my classes and have been told the same will be true in my career.

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  • Account Closed
    OP
    Real Estate Investor · London · Member since 2008 · 3k+ posts · 74 votes
    19y
    Originally posted by "ricocamacho":
    Originally posted by "REI":
    Originally posted by "Beachbum":

    Pretty handy bit of software...

    I will take a look. I am a bit of a gadget guy.

    John Corey

    I like your choice of software. I am also curious if you live in the UK or the US? I see your address in your profile and your Blog is all about the UK Real Estate market.

    Just curious....

    Rico,

    1. I live in London plus have a home in the US.

    2. The blog is more US than UK. There is a good bit of overlap in the two markets.

    Thanks for asking.

    John Corey

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  • Account Closed
    OP
    Real Estate Investor · London · Member since 2008 · 3k+ posts · 74 votes
    19y
    Originally posted by "josephstevens7":
    I would assume that if you were experienced enough with excel, you could create roughly any type of "analysis" tool you wanted in it. As long as you have the correct formulas, and internal knowledge of how each of the processes work.

    Joseph,

    You are correct about Excel. There are some things that would be a bit harder as the tool does not allow a ton of control over layout and some other things. For all the math and most of the graphs Excel would be fine.

    Many folks are not that competent with Excel. Hence they really can not do as you say. For others there are free spreadsheets out there from CCIM and others that crunch the numbers using industry standards.

    Different solutions for different people.

    John Corey

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  • Brett Fredrickson
    Member since 2008 · 68 posts · 1 vote
    19y

    I created (still in the process of tweeking) an Excel sheet. If you are proficient in Excel, I see no reason to use anything else. Plus, you can tweek it to how you want it.

    I wouldn't mind looking at some of those free spreadsheets. Could you post a link?

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  • Joshua D.Pro Member
    BiggerPockets Founder · HI · Member since 2008 · 16k+ posts · 5k+ votes
    19y

    If either of you wouldn't mind, I'd be happy to post the worksheets here on the site so others can use them . . . let me know if you're interested or just email them to me.

    Podcast Guest on Show #100
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  • Account Closed
    Developer · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2009 · 77 posts · 8 votes
    17y

    *bump
    I've also been interested to hear further what people have been using in the industry to analyze investments. I have a few key books to guide through different calcs and analysis but also would like some sort of software that could compartmentalize each deal/analysis.

    I've invested in an HP 12C manual and hope to get through the learning curve of Reverse Polish Notation (RPN).

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