Tools that you wish you had

[Jama Mohamed]

Hi all,

So earlier this year I was pretty set on buying a SFH, but decided to drop it at the last moment after realizing it was a bad deal. Before that I had thought I did all of the research necessary and figured out whether I wanted it, but I guess there's always something that you don't know until it's too late (or just right before). For me it wasn't anything crazy, but just some number crunching for the area that I should have been more diligent about earlier.

So my question is, what tools do you all use to crunch numbers? In any step, be it finding the deal, vetting the deal, or running it after everything is set and done. Also, I'd love to hear about any tools or services you wish existed to help you with any of these steps. Aside from learning about real estate, I also like to make sites/apps/services and if there's a need then I'd love to get on it.

One example of something I wish I had was accurate rental information. I've seen a lot of websites with average rental information for an area, for example Zillow which appears to update it month by month. But what I really wish existed was more detailed rent information for specific lots. I know that typically people wouldn't post that sort of information, but if it were available it would make spreadsheet calculations a lot easier (and certain).

Another thing that would be really nice is a tool that can flag interesting events in past/present (such as a factory being built in an area) and give real estimated numbers for the effect on house and rental prices. Not just 'this will bring in more working people to rent' but more like '+40 2br SFH, +10 1br apt estimated within 10 miles for 12345 zip'. Now this sounds like sort of a longshot, but you've got to admit that it would be pretty useful!

Anyhow, I'd love to hear from all of you who have been doing this for much longer than I have!

[Bryan O.]

@Jama Mohamed I think you are running into the reason real estate isn't overrun with Wall Street types. It is very fragmented and not presented simply. Even sales data is tracked differently from area to area. Without that fragmentation, every Tom, Dick, and Jane would own houses and you would get terrible returns. Be glad for it because it is the reason why RE investing is so great!

I use an excel sheet that I built myself to run numbers. There are tons of them online (even BP has a calculator), but I needed to learn the numbers myself. If I designed the sheet and put all the formulas in it helped me understand how everything works, which makes me better even without the sheet. You can speak with some agents and see if they will set you up with an MLS feed that shows rental information. My PM did this for me with a property I have and I could see the actual numbers. I don't know how reliable that data is since typical mom and pop do not publish to the MLS, but using that information and checking Zillow and a couple of other sites puts me right on target. I have found sites like Rentometer to be wildly inaccurate in the areas I have used them.

I have used Google's keyword search thing to set up automatic emails for the cities I invest in, so I get an email every night with stories. It isn't very customizable, but it works for now. I am also looking for better ways to find out if any construction projects are going on but I'm not sure which office handles that or if they have newsletters/meetings.