Nor can I use my old way of managing work when I have 4...I started looking at reservation management software and quickly got overwhelmed. 

She's a pilates instructor and a sales director for a major hotel brand and I manage software accounts west of the Mississippi and abroad.

I noticed a big downturn in the job market in my industry (software development) which is very unusual. 

The agent will need to close the property down in their software and your friend will need to create a new listings.

What softwares/tools do you use and what has your past experience taught you that im glossing over?

You need software that does the work for you and that can also easily run different financial scenarios.

I'm a Software Engineer in the bay area ready to dive into the world of real estate investing.

Which syndication software is recommended to keep everything streamlined?

A couple of recommendations here:- Invest in software: i.e. dialers, CRM, & property data platforms.

Which is fine - but we want to know what columns we went over budget on to try and stop from doing it again.I dont love the idea of having a separate software's - one that tracks finances and one that tracks the cost.