10 Free & Essential Online Tools For Real Estate Investors

[Trey Watson]

Deciding to jump into real estate can be intimidating to anyone. Finding worthwhile guidance seems impossible, especially if you're like 80% of my clients who work a 9-5 job in a completely unrelated field. Over my short, but successful time as a real estate professional I have accumulated a dash board of websites that help make my job easier, whether its networking, running comps, looking for properties, tracking down investors or finding sellers. Listed below are 10 free tools that anyone interested in real estate can use to enhance their capabilities and improve their business.

1. Greatschools.org/ - When you are running comps you want to make sure that you are not comparing your property to a property where the school districts are not aligned. You type in the address and Greatschools will provide your zoned elementary, middle and high school as well as alternate schools in your searched area. Each school is rated 1-10, highest being the best. When running comps, you don't want to say your house is worth $300,000 with a high school rated at 6 out of 10 if the properties you are comparing yours to are zoned to a high school with a rating of 9 out of 10.

2. Hcad.org/ - CAD stands for county appraisal district. This is the entity that comes up with the tax value of your house. In Texas, each county has one. You can search properties by address or owner name on their website. Its a quick way to find out basic specs of a house (sqft, bed, bath, year build). You just need to know what county the property is in. I have provided the link for Harris county appraisal district because that is my area of Houston.

3. Google Earth - When you are prospecting a house, this is the first place you should go before you spend your time going to visit the property. It can be a pain to use for technologically novice users, but AT LEAST use Google Maps. This will often save you a trip. Oh, the property has a 600 sqft non permitted addition that didn't show up on CAD? well that's a deal breaker.... on to the next property.

4. Biggerpockets.com - We all know this is an awesome tool. But its how you use it that will determine what it's worth to your business. This site is basically Facebook for investors. The opportunity is there. Investors are everywhere. You can ask ANY question about real estate and expect to get multiple answers. They may not all be right, but it's pretty easy to pick up on who knows what they're talking about and who doesn't, even for the novice. They have a paid version where you have more access to connect with users but as a free member I believe you can at least read all forum content.

5. Meetup.com - I don't know how anyone could be successful in this industry without networking. This site allows you to search for local events in your area. Go to the search bar & type "real estate". Make sure to edit the mile radius to however far you're willing to travel. Click search. You should not have a problem finding a few meetups to check out. Many of them will be free.

6. Zillow/trulia - I am ANTI zestimates because they're almost always inaccurate however their site does offer some useful and convenient information. They provide the schools that property is zoned to on the front page. They provide all of the basic specs. Also, it is very difficult for a non licensed agent to obtain interior pictures of a property that has already sold. Zillow and Trulia give you that chance in many cases. It depends on the property and if the previous agent posted them.

7. Har.com - This is the database that brokers use in Houston. Har is your go to site for scoping out the competition. What I mean is, you can go see what properties are available and what properties are pending in your neighborhood and see what they look like on the inside. How can you make your property better than theirs? Again, the only caveat to HAR is if you are not a licensed agent/broker, you can't see/search sold comps.

8. Craigslist.org - Okay yes I know, Craigslist is full of spammers and wannabes. We all know this. The key here is consistency. If you are looking for properties you need to be looking at CL every day. You may not find anything for a while but it will help you learn how to efficiently sift through properties and sort the crap from the potential. If you're looking for buyer's/investors through Craigslist, consistency is still you're friend. You need to be posting your property(s) every day, multiple times a day and you need to be changing your ad to what yields you the most response. Don't stick to the same thing if you're not getting the response you want. It takes months, not days. Consistency!

9. Floodmap - Once again, as a licensed agent I have access to a much easier to use flood map through Realist, but this site is good for anyone who does not have their license. You don't want to buy or sell a property without knowing where it stands on a flood map. Make sure you incorporate this in your due diligence process if you haven't already.

10. Facebook.com - Anyone in R/E can benefit from Facebook. Join your local r/e groups and like your local R/E company pages. You will quickly accumulate a solid stream of news, information and investment opportunities that come through your news feed. Even if you don't post anything, subscribing to pages like this will help acclimate you to your market by seeing what other people in your industry are talking about. You can also use Facebook to track down investors and sellers if you're really savvy.

I was not paid by any of these websites to write this. These sites are seriously on my dashboard right now. I get questions every single day from investors, new and seasoned that these sites could easily answer. I was thinking an article like this could help a lot of people. Check the sites out and leave me some feedback.