RE Syndication Investor Tracking Software for LPs?

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RE Syndication Investor Tracking Software for LPs?

Adrian Clapp
Scituate, MA · Member since 2018 · 55 posts · 33 votes

Hi.  In 2021 I invested in 15 different RE Syndications and was wondering how LP investors keep track of quarterly distributions and other performance metrics vs. what was originally presented in the original pro forma or updates.  Right now I am using a large excel spreadsheet but I was thinking someone must have developed a better system?  Thanks!

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Litan Yahav
Investor · Member since 2022 · 9 posts · 11 votes
3y
Quote from @Adrian Clapp:

Hi.  In 2021 I invested in 15 different RE Syndications and was wondering how LP investors keep track of quarterly distributions and other performance metrics vs. what was originally presented in the original pro forma or updates.  Right now I am using a large excel spreadsheet but I was thinking someone must have developed a better system?  Thanks!

 Hey @Adrian Clapp and others! As someone who's invested in more than 30 syndications as an LP over the past few years I totally understand the "good problems" of tracking them all - That's the basis for why we decided to found a new startup and build Vyzer two+ years ago. 

Our objective is to help people like us automate as much of their finances as possible, specifically the more alternative and private investments. 

If I can help in anyway please don't hesitate to reach out! 
I'm also alway interested in hearing any feedback that comes up.

@Jim Pfeifer - Thanks for the mention! 

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  • Drew T H.Pro Member
    New to Real Estate · Davenport, IA · Member since 2021 · 35 posts · 6 votes
    4y

    Hey Adrian,

    We currently use Excel as well. But, we've been considering buying a tool or having one created for us. I'm interested to see what kind of feedback you get here! Best of luck and if nothing else, maybe we can work together to develop something!

    0Reply
  • Adrian Clapp
    OP
    Scituate, MA · Member since 2018 · 55 posts · 33 votes
    4y
    0Reply
  • Drew T H.Pro Member
    New to Real Estate · Davenport, IA · Member since 2021 · 35 posts · 6 votes
    4y

    @Adrian Clapp,

    I have never looked into it until now and wasn't able to directly find anything either. I'll send you a connection and we can brainstorm ideas and I can reach out to my tech friends to see if they know of anything or if they would be willing to collaborate and create something that can track the projections vs actuals in a nice, clean, consistent way.

    0Reply
  • Brock Mogensen
    Real Estate Syndicator · Milwaukee, WI · Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 907 votes
    4y

    Most syndicators use an investor portal software.  The one we use will show LP's the actual vs proforma stats in a dashboard.  If they don't have that built into their portal, they should at least be outlining it in the quarterly reporting.  The hard part is if you are investing with several different operators the odds that they are all using the same investor portal software is pretty low. In that case your best bet is to just create your own spreadsheet to track it..

    0Reply
  • Adrian Clapp
    OP
    Scituate, MA · Member since 2018 · 55 posts · 33 votes
    4y

    Hi Brock, Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I've spread my initial investments in 2021 over about twelve different syndicators that all report and distribute on different timeframes so far so I was hoping to find a more elegant solution than my current spreadsheet system that is getting a bit unweildy.

    0Reply
  • Zachary Inman
    Specialist · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2021 · 312 posts · 282 votes
    4y

    Hi @Adrian Clapp. I bet your excel sheet looks monstrous while keeping track of 15 different investments! I've seen LPs get very creative with their tracking. The most interesting I've seen is an LP who drops her monthly bank statement data into an excel sheet that automatically categorizes each distribution. 

    0Reply
  • Adrian Clapp
    OP
    Scituate, MA · Member since 2018 · 55 posts · 33 votes
    4y

    The spreadsheet with 15 investments would be fine if I were not planning on adding any additional investments in 2022 and beyond. I might need to start a separate tab for each year and then have a summary tab that ties it all together.  Unless someone has a different solution.

    0Reply
  • Michael Turner
    Rental Property Investor · Pinellas County, FL · Member since 2021 · 5 posts · 6 votes
    3y

    @Adrian Clapp i bought this spreadsheet - https://passiveadvantage.com/d... last month to fix the same problem you have.  it is very complex and i am comfortable with excel, but still working on it to make it work.

    2Reply
  • Adrian Clapp
    OP
    Scituate, MA · Member since 2018 · 55 posts · 33 votes
    3y

    Hi @Michael Turner, 

    That spreadsheet looks amazing! Please keep me posted on how it is going and I will research it a little more and will probably purchase a copy for myself in the next few days.  Do you know how often the spreadsheet will be updated and if you need to pay for newer versions?  I assume once you purchase the initial package you can use that version for as long as you want?

    Thank you for letting me know about the tracker!

    0Reply
  • Chris SeveneyBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Investor · VA · Member since 2015 · 21k+ posts · 19k+ votes
    3y

    @Adrian Clapp

    I believe @Jim Pfeifer at left field investors has a software he has used to track all of this

    7e investments53 Reviews
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    1Reply
  • Adrian Clapp
    OP
    Scituate, MA · Member since 2018 · 55 posts · 33 votes
    3y

    @Chris Seveney,

    Thanks for the info. I will follow up with Jim.

    0Reply
  • Jim PfeiferBusiness Member
    Investor · Dublin, OH · Member since 2014 · 241 posts · 495 votes
    3y

    This has been a huge headache for me for a long time!  I started out using Excel, but once you get beyond 10 investments it gets complicated.  I have several Excel sheets talking or more accurately, arguing with each other and it's chaos.  We tried to develop a web-based tracker and we had some success but it just wasn't good enough.  Then we found Vyzer.  It's a great tool for managing real estate syndications - and it can handle standard wealth management tracking as well.  

    Vyzer was developed by a couple of guys who had a tech exit and starting investing in syndications and they had the same frustrations we all do - how do you track all of your investments.  They looked around and found out that this problem had not yet been solved.  They ended up building a tool that is optimized for passive investors in syndications.  I have been using the tool since last May and it has been a game changer.  They are incredibly responsive to feedback - I sent them a six page Word doc with change requests and they have implemented (or are working on) most of them.  

    Their solution is very comprehensive as is the reporting and forecasting functions - but best of all it takes about 2 minutes to enter a new investment and about 15 seconds to enter a distribution.  

    As you may have noticed, I am a big fan!

    2Reply
  • Adrian Clapp
    OP
    Scituate, MA · Member since 2018 · 55 posts · 33 votes
    3y

    Hi @Jim Pfeifer,

    Thank you for letting me know about Vyzer.  It looks like a superior version of Personal Capital with the added bonus of being able to track Syndications.  I am going to give the free 30 day trial a shot and will then decide between Vyzer and the Passive Advantage spreadsheet.  The current spreadsheets that were built like me are not going to cut it much longer!

    0Reply
  • Account Closed
    Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2022 · 184 posts · 78 votes
    3y

    Hey Adrian,

    I work at an investment advisory firm that is currently working on providing our clients (LPs of DSTs and Alts), with a platform to check those metrics. 

    We are working with TD and Schwab to act as custodians for certain Alts funds... 

    0Reply
  • Adrian Clapp
    OP
    Scituate, MA · Member since 2018 · 55 posts · 33 votes
    3y

    Hi @Account Closed,

    Thanks for the additional info.  Glad to hear that this challenge is starting to get some attention!

    0Reply
  • Litan Yahav
    Investor · Member since 2022 · 9 posts · 11 votes
    3y
    Quote from @Adrian Clapp:

    Hi.  In 2021 I invested in 15 different RE Syndications and was wondering how LP investors keep track of quarterly distributions and other performance metrics vs. what was originally presented in the original pro forma or updates.  Right now I am using a large excel spreadsheet but I was thinking someone must have developed a better system?  Thanks!

     Hey @Adrian Clapp and others! As someone who's invested in more than 30 syndications as an LP over the past few years I totally understand the "good problems" of tracking them all - That's the basis for why we decided to found a new startup and build Vyzer two+ years ago. 

    Our objective is to help people like us automate as much of their finances as possible, specifically the more alternative and private investments. 

    If I can help in anyway please don't hesitate to reach out! 
    I'm also alway interested in hearing any feedback that comes up.

    @Jim Pfeifer - Thanks for the mention! 

    2Reply
  • Adrian Clapp
    OP
    Scituate, MA · Member since 2018 · 55 posts · 33 votes
    3y

    Hi @Litan Yahav

    Thank you for reaching out. Vyzer looks great and I look forward to testing it out over the next 30 days.  I'll definitely follow up if I have any other questions or issues.

    1Reply
  • Account Closed
    Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2022 · 184 posts · 78 votes
    3y
    Quote from @Adrian Clapp:

    Hi @Account Closed,

    Thanks for the additional info.  Glad to hear that this challenge is starting to get some attention!


     I think it could see a lot more attention especially if you can go to a Schwab and say hey refer us 1% of this $XXX account and we'll cut our commission in half and now you can offer syndications to these clients that are all in stocks and want RE on the Schwab platform 

    0Reply
  • Adrian Clapp
    OP
    Scituate, MA · Member since 2018 · 55 posts · 33 votes
    3y

    The CrowdStreet platform is making a push to offer their RE syndication projects to Registered Investment Advisor clients.

    0Reply
  • Chris SeveneyBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Investor · VA · Member since 2015 · 21k+ posts · 19k+ votes
    3y

    @Dylan Speer love to connect with you offline

    7e investments53 Reviews
    WebsiteView Page
    0Reply
  • Chris SeveneyBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Investor · VA · Member since 2015 · 21k+ posts · 19k+ votes
    3y

    @Adrian Clapp

    We have spoken to several RIA’s about partnering with them and if your offering allows non accredited they typically will not touch it, if you have a reg d which is accredited only they could look at it but they would not want any of their non accredited investors to invest in an alt is what we have been told by several

    We have been speaking with Schwab and fidelity to try and get listed on their platforms.

    Anyone have any info on this love to talk to them

    7e investments53 Reviews
    WebsiteView Page
    0Reply
  • Adrian Clapp
    OP
    Scituate, MA · Member since 2018 · 55 posts · 33 votes
    3y

    @Chris Seveney

    I believe all of CS offerings are accredited investors only.

    0Reply
  • Allan C.
    Rental Property Investor · Member since 2018 · 826 posts · 809 votes
    3y

    @Adrian Clapp are you proficient in XL? Software to track syndications seem to be overkill. MS help functions are easy to navigate, so i suggest learning about Lookup functions or pivot tables. You only need one tab to track everything, but can create more if desired.

    For 50 syndications you’re dealing with 50 numbers a month max.

    0Reply
  • Adrian Clapp
    OP
    Scituate, MA · Member since 2018 · 55 posts · 33 votes
    3y

    @Allan C.,

    I would say I am fairly proficient in Excel.  Tracking my RE Syndication investments in Excel is very time consuming since they all are on different timeframes, etc.  My spreadsheets work (for now) but I'm pretty sure there are better tools that would be more automated too.

    1Reply
  • Allan C.
    Rental Property Investor · Member since 2018 · 826 posts · 809 votes
    3y
    Quote from @Adrian Clapp:

    @Allan C.,

    I would say I am fairly proficient in Excel.  Tracking my RE Syndication investments in Excel is very time consuming since they all are on different timeframes, etc.  My spreadsheets work (for now) but I'm pretty sure there are better tools that would be more automated too.

    Actually, I’ll ask a different question - what exactly are you looking to accomplish? It seems you’re stewarding performance on a monthly basis, but why not just look at performance on an annual basis or upon deal exit. I don’t see any value tracking syndication performance more frequently than on annual basis, and really it’s the full cycle that matters. 

    I have a separate bank account that all syndication distributions flow to so that gives me one level of organization that makes it easy to track monthly or annual performance, but I honestly only perform a hindsight analysis after the deal has exited. I have preferred sponsors that I invest more with, but I still invest with several different sponsors to diversify risk and geography. Help us understand the end goal of your question. 

    0Reply
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