The Best Real Estate Software Types For Investors

The modern age and its technological advances have completely reshaped the real estate industry. There are countless resources for landlords and property owners to rely on and tinker with that make real estate investments easier than ever before.

If you’ve been searching for some of the best real estate software for investors, then look no further. Below, we’ll discuss the value that software and other online tools bring to real estate, what to look for, and finally, a few examples of the best real estate investment software for investors of any size.

Why Real Estate Investing Software?

If you’ve come this far without any kind of real estate investing software, then you may be wondering why it would be worth it to start now. Your system works fine, right?

There are likely quite a few inefficiencies in your investing process that you don’t realize are dragging you down. The best real estate investment software will automate monotonous tasks so that you can spend more time on the things that matter to you and your business.

Software can streamline or automate many real estate tasks, including:

• Rent collection
• Tenant screening
• Bookkeeping
• Financial report generation
• Listing properties
• Advertising
• Filing taxes
• Fee collection
• Market research

If you find yourself spending hours a week on any of the previously mentioned tasks, then read ahead to see what cloud based software solutions and other online tools can do for you.

Types of Software

With that in mind, let’s take a look at a few types of real estate investing software that you may want to get your hands on

Property Management Software

Whether you’re looking for residential or commercial real estate investment software, you’ll likely need some way to streamline your day-to-day management tasks. Property management software like Innago, Appfolio, and Buildium can simplify rent collection, lease signings, maintenance requests, and many other aspects of rental property management. Their user-friendly interfaces will guarantee smooth sailing for you and your tenants alike.

Rental Property Accounting Software

Rental property accounting software is one of the best real estate software for investors because it’ll keep you in touch with your finances while automating and simplifying the process. Accounting software will typically allow you to securely link your bank details so that your transactions are automatically tracked in an online ledger. Some software like Ledgre can even generate financial reports and streamline your tax process, allowing you to maximize your deductions and minimize your tax prep time while analyzing key financial metrics.

Listing Syndication Software

Websites that facilitate listing syndication are extremely important for any rental property business. Sites like Zillow and Realtor.com essentially work to advertise your investment properties in as many places as possible, getting your name out there and ensuring that you can find prospective tenants with ease. Once you create a single rental listing, they’ll be able to share it to countless prospective tenants across different sites in order to get your name out there.

Tenant Screening Software

Once you’ve reached prospective tenants, you need to make sure that they’ll be the right fit for your property. Tenant screening websites run background checks on potential future tenants—often customizable ones, so you can focus on the details that matter to you. They’ll typically run a credit check, a criminal check, a rental history check, and more, which all should help you get an even better picture of your applicants. Some sites have tenant screening services built into their software already. Otherwise, some popular tenant screening sites include TransUnion’s SmartMove and AmerUSA.

Real Estate Analysis Software

When you’re looking to invest in a new property, you may want to do a real estate investment analysis to get more insight into whether a property is a good deal and if it fits the budget and needs of your business. With real estate analysis software, you can do a property analysis for a potential purchase and get key metrics that will help you make a decision on a property, such as after repair value or NOI.

Data Analytics/Market Research Software

Staying informed and up to date on the real estate world is an often overlooked but vital aspect of real estate investments. Staying in touch with market trends and real estate news on sites like Redfin and Zillow will keep your business in the loop and your decisions data-driven. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) website is another great resource, as their membership offers exclusive market, consumer, and business analytics, helpful tools, property reports, and other comprehensive real estate data.

What to Look For

Some—not all—of the best real estate software for investors is free. But whether you’re making a financial commitment to software or not, you want to make sure you know what you’re getting into. It’s a great idea to browse recent reviews from real customers to get a realistic idea of what using the software is like.

There are a few aspects you’ll want to focus on when shopping around for real estate investor software:

Reliability

Finding software that you can count on is important. Look into whether or not customers report constant outages, long loading times, or substantial glitches. It’s best to get an idea of the software’s reliability based on what unbiased users with experience have to say.

Customizations

Not all residential or commercial real estate investment software is customizable, but yours should be. Be sure to check the extent to which you can mold a software platform to fit your specific needs. If you have multiple real estate portfolios that you’d like to manage, for example, ensure that your software can support that.

Key Features

Knowing what you’re looking for can be tricky, but most software will clearly advertise its key features. Find out what they are, what they do, and whether or not it’s what you’re looking for. If you’re looking into tenant screening software, does it offer criminal history checks? And if not, is that something you value?

Accuracy

Precise software is extremely important, especially if it is handling your finances or property management. When researching and making a decision, you’ll want to find out how accurate each software is in its respective field. If a listing syndication software is reported by some to have consistency issues, for example, then you may want to look elsewhere.

User Interface

Depending on your level of experience and expertise, your standards of usability will be different. If using certain software feels like a confusing uphill battle, then you may want to switch to something sleeker and more user-friendly. Look for things like unclear terminology, overwhelming design, or confusing and inconsistent features.

Cost

Similarly to user interface, your price threshold is going to be unique to you. Comparing the cost of different software can give you a good idea of what each element is worth, but you’ll ultimately decide what you want to pay. By comparing the features and costs of each software, you can figure out where you are and aren’t willing to compromise.

Support

When problems arise—and they almost always will—you need to ensure that you have professional support. For some software, round-the-clock service isn’t necessary, but for some, it’s vital. Find out what kind of support they offer and what their team’s availability is. Additionally, you’ll want to search for indicators of the support team’s reliability and knowledge in the reviews you find.

Security

The best real estate investment software understands the importance of security. For the safe storage of your and your tenants’ sensitive information, ensure that the software you plan to use is extremely secure. If these details aren’t on their website, then it’s never a bad idea to get this information from them via emails, phone calls, or support chats.

Conclusion

Finding the best real estate software for investors is half of the battle—finding the right one for you is the other half. Once you have a good idea of what you’re looking for, don’t be afraid to test drive a few different websites and software so that you can find the best fit for your business. You never know what you might find!