RE Investment management softwares and tools

[Kamal Farhat]

I'm new to real estate, and I had the chance to attend a seminar organized by Fortune Builders this weekend in Calgary, I’m not here asking for a review on FB’s so called “Mastery” program as I’m aware that this topic was covered extensively in BP forums, as a matter of fact, I had the chance to get a first-hand experience of their cheap “Mastery” program propaganda, and I decided not to attend the last day of the seminar, as the propaganda seems to be getting more fierce each day!

Apart from that, the tools and softwares that FB demonstrated during the seminar seem to be of good value to me, and I was wondering what other software packages are available in the market that cover automation of the whole RE Investment process, from marketing, to deal management, rehabbing management, contract and documents management, etc?

[Kristin Mosby]

Even though this is an older thread I thought I might offer some suggestions. Coming from the software design industry myself I found it really hard to find the right tools that meet all of the criteria for features that I would look for or actually put into a product. I think I was being overly critical and looking for "super tools" that didn't exist. Recently I've decided to take a step back and take off my designer hat and look at it from the perspective of a new real estate investor who wants to keep costs and expenses low and not buy tools unnecessarily or pay too many monthly fees for cloud-based services. For free services I decided to start off with Google Docs and Excel, the basics. They are free and commonly used tools. You can find some resources from other investors that they have already created in that format and reuse them.

Another great free tool that I'm using for scheduling appointments with withe sellers is "SetMore Appointments". You can use it on your computer/laptop and they also have an iPhone app that has been extremely convenient for me…especially with sellers canceling appointments or changing their minds at the last minute.

For low-cost paid services, I use Smartsheet as an online project management tool. I’ve customized my personal account for real estate investing and it is working out pretty well so far. I’m subscribed to the basic version, which is $14 a month and it has all the features I need for where I am now. I don’t see the need to upgrade anytime soon.

As I find more great products that are either already customized or can be customized for this industry I’ll definitely share.