Are you a real estate investor looking to take your business on the go? If so, here are ten must-have applications (apps) for real estate investors that offer you the ability to quickly access time-sensitive information from your iPhone, Android or tablet.
The List: Best Real Estate Investing Apps for 2016
1. Auction.com App
Of course, we had to start out with our own great app for this list. The Auction.com app allows real estate investors, large financial institutions, real estate agents and real estate brokers to buy and sell residential real estate online within the app.
You can find foreclosures and bank-owned homes for sale in seconds. You can also search for properties on-the-go by location, property type, auction dates or relevant keywords.
Key Takeaways:
- Conveniently buy and sell residential real estate online
- Browse, register and bid using your iOS or Android device
- Filtered search capabilities by location, property features and auction date
Cost:
- Free
2. Ten-X Commercial App
This app is ideal for commercial real estate investors and brokers. The Ten-X Commercial app empowers brokers and commercial investors to find current commercial real estate deals, review due diligence and submit offers – from anywhere.
The Ten-X Commercial app allows you to get alerts as soon as new commercial properties hit the market, register and even make offers directly from your mobile device. You can browse thousands of active and sold commercial properties by list, table or map view.
Key Takeaways:
- Ideal real estate investing app for commercial real estate investors and brokers
- Browse, register and make an offer using your iOS or Android device
- Receive alerts as soon as new commercial properties hit the market
Cost:
- Free
3. Zillow Mobile App
Zillow is a great app that lets you view real estate properties available on the MLS (Multiple Listings Service). The information is timely, and it’s great for researching regional home values and neighborhood comparables (also known as “comps”).
Additional real estate investing apps available from the Zillow family include Zillow Rentals, Zillow Mortgage Calculator and Zillow Digs Interior Design. All are free of charge.
Key Takeaways:
- View current MLS listings
- Excellent for providing up-to-date comps
- Search homes near top-rated schools and neighborhoods
Cost:
- Free
Other real estate investing apps that provide similar information as Zillow are the Zip Realty app, Redfin app, Realtor.com, Trulia, and LoopNet for commercial properties.
4. BiggerPockets App
BiggerPockets is the real estate investing social network, information hub and marketplace. According to BiggerPockets, their website and app is one of the most respected online real estate networking and information resource platforms, featuring over 1.5 million posts, and tens of thousands of real estate investing articles.
The BiggerPockets app aims to help educate people in all aspects of real estate investing and to provide tools, data, and resources to enhance real estate knowledge, networking, deal making, marketing, and other day-to-day real estate activities.
A key feature of the BiggerPockets app is their real estate investing forum that offers a variety of topics from real estate investing experts and members.
Key Takeaways:
- Interact with real life investors to network and build profitable relationships
- Excellent online real estate investing community forum
- Offers property analysis calculators and the ability to print reports for lenders or partners
Cost:
- Free
5. Property Fixer App
Property Fixer from MLS LLC is one of the best apps for real estate investors who are flipping properties. This mobile app is great for the investor who needs to quickly analyze the potential profit on a property they intend to fix up and ‘flip’ to a retail buyer.
After entering the property details, you can view a Flip Analysis report that shows your profit and return on investment (ROI) for the flip.
Property Fixer also allows for you to keep track and account for monthly expenses like holding costs (up to 12 months) and potential improvement costs. From these data points, you will be able to calculate profit margin and your ROI.
Whether you’re a real estate investor interested in foreclosures, short sales, REOs, MLS listings, or commercial properties (such as office buildings, multi-family units, retail stores, restaurants or land), this app will help you calculate and perform your next flip from anywhere.
Key Takeaways:
- Excellent app for investors who want to flip homes and properties
- Easy to digest Flip Analysis feature
- Holding period profit breakdown from 1 month up to 12 months
Cost:
- Free, however you can upgrade to a Premium version for $19.99 and a Pro version for $39.99.
6. Property Evaluator App
Also from MLS LLC, Property Evaluator is a powerful, real estate investing analysis software gem that can be used on the iPhone, iPad, or from your desktop computer. This real estate investing app is ideal for the “buy and hold” investor.
Features include the ability to input property information such as address, projected rents, expenses, financing information and improvement costs. The app will then run a performance analysis and calculate financial projections in seconds.
You can get a full “buy and hold” projection along with detailed purchase analysis for a single property or for an entire portfolio of properties. Plus, the reports can be emailed or printed. This app will also help you quickly analyze real estate investments, create professional PDF reports, and email them to your clients, lenders, or investment partners.
Key Takeaways:
- Excellent app for “buy and hold” investors
- Performance Analysis feature calculates detailed financial projections
- Create PDF reports and email them to clients, lenders or partners
Cost:
- Free, however you can upgrade to a Premium version for $19.99 and a Pro version for $39.99.
7. 10BII Calc HD Financial Calculator App
A financial calculator app is a must-have tool for any real estate investor. And this best-selling 10BII Calc HD Financial Calculator app is one of the finest around. It can be used on Android, iPhone, iPad, and is now available on the Windows App Store.
As an investor, you’ll want to calculate returns by factoring in monthly payments, interest rates, present values and future values, not to mention amortization schedules, cash flow diagrams and even uneven cash flows. This will quickly become your “go to” mobile calculator.
Upgrading your calculator to the 10BII Calc HD is recommended, because this financial calculator allows you to account for the time value of money (TVM). That is, the idea that “money available at the present time is worth more than the same amount in the future” due to its potential earning capacity.
Of course, there are lots of financial calculators available, but this one stands apart. The key is to find one that allows you to account for TVM. At just $5.99, the potential earning capacity of this calculator offers incredible value for those researching real estate investing apps.
Key Takeaways:
- Excellent mobile calculator app
- Offers time value of money (TVM) accounting
- Help button provides easy access to video and HTML tutorials (iOS and Android)
Cost:
- $5.99 (but well worth it)
To learn more about the 10BII Calc HD Financial Calculator, click here.
8. DocuSign App
DocuSign is the easiest and most secure way to sign and get documents signed using your Android, iPhone or iPad device. DocuSign is the most widely used eSignature and Digital Transaction Management platform in the world.
The DocuSign electronic signature app provides real estate investors – both consumers and professionals – with a simple way to legally sign and return document from anywhere, anytime, on any device.
Key Takeaways:
- Fill out and sign documents for free, there is no monthly limit
- Send legal documents for others to sign and return
- Securely store, manage, and access your documents from anywhere
Cost:
- They offer a free, 30-day trial for both DocuSign for Realtors and Real Estate PLUS, Broker Edition versions. After that, prices start at around $20 per month.
9. MagicPlan App
MagicPlan is an excellent real estate investing apps, because you can take pictures to create room measurements and floor plans, saving you time and money.
You can also add objects, annotations, photos and attributes to generate reports or complete estimates in seconds. Store your floor plans in the cloud. Voila! It works with iOS and Android.
MagicPlan is great for creating and sharing floor plans and work estimates with your real estate investing team: real estate agents, craftsmen, architects, home inspectors, interior designers, and more.
Key Takeaways:
- Create floor plans and work estimates simply by taking pictures
- Assemble rooms by using your fingers
- Create floorplans using PDF, JPEG, DXF and HTML formats
Cost:
- Free
10. Bond Black App
Perhaps one of the most unique real estate investing app recommendations, we have Bond Black, an app that allows you to send beautifully handwritten notes from your phone in seconds.
You simply compose your note on the app as a text message using your iPhone, and it will be written, stamped and delivered to your recipient from anywhere in the world.
Bond Black offers alternative text styles more suitable to your liking, using their robotic technology. Plus, you can preview your note after you compose it and see it exactly as your recipient will see it. Your notes will be printed on beautiful, fully-customizable stationery.
The Bond Black app is a great way to send customized notes to buyers, sellers, your agent, or anyone that is part of a particular real estate transaction. A customized note often helps you stand above the crowd and might just be the extra something that makes a seller or a buyer want to work with you.
Key Takeaways:
- Compose beautiful, handwritten notes from anywhere
- Create customized note as easily as a text message
- Check your note history, duplicate notes or send new notes to previous recipients
Cost:
- Free
So Why Do Mobile Apps Matter So Much?
As you probably already know, mobile apps provide a much faster alternative than mobile web browsing. You see, mobile web browsing requires launching a web browser, entering a URL and waiting for the site to load. Mobile web browsing can be comparably slower than browsing on a desktop, making the experience somewhat less ideal. Launching a mobile app only takes a second because the majority of the information is stored in the application (app) itself, making it quicker to load. Plus, mobile apps are designed to provide a better user experience designed specifically for a mobile (or tablet) screen.
Understanding mobile user and customer behavior is critical for achieving success in 2016. According to comScore, apps are driving the majority of media consumption activity, accounting for 7 out of every 8 minutes of media consumption on mobile devices. On smartphones, app activity is even higher, at 88% usage versus 82% on tablets. According to Smartinsights.com, over 90% of time on mobile is spent engaging in a wide variety of apps, from Facebook to Auction.com and having deeper knowledge of mobile behavior can be very important for real estate investors.
Why Is Understanding Mobile Behavior So Important for Real Estate Investors?
Using the chart below, mobile usage surpassed desktop usage back in 2014. Today, it is not uncommon to see over 50% of website traffic attributed to mobile devices. Industry experts predict that mobile usage will continue to grow for many years.
Source: eMarketer 4/15 (2011-2015). Mobile includes smartphones and tablet. Usage includes both home and work. Ages 18+: time spend with each medium includes all time spent with that medium, regardless of multitasking.
For savvy real estate investors, this increasing trend to “go mobile” is no different. Knowing what apps to use to learn more about the local real estate market, find the best real estate deals, calculate costs or the possible return on a property can make a huge difference in your real estate investment strategy.
We don’t want you to want to miss out on great deals, new opportunities or the convenience of being able to buy and sell real estate properties from virtually anywhere in the world so that’s why we’ve shared our list of the top 10 real estate investing apps for 2016.
