Looking for a Good Investment Property Software

• 

  [Deactivated] on 25/02/2017 - 12:45

  +3

  Not going to find anything "decent" for free, let alone cash flow management

  Rest Professional is the industry standard for Property Management
  REI Master is another package out there that I have used

  Now I may come across as a bit of a dick but If you can afford investment properties then you can afford a solution to manage the cash flow in compliance with the relevant state laws

  Not to mention paying for it means you get support / upgrades and help when you need it vs Free, something goes wrong and you lose every piece of information in the system

  Unfortunately its a niche market and unless you pony up some coin, you're not going to find a free property management package that does cash flow mangement, otherwise you could imagine the backlash you would get from the software developers who have provided packages tailor made for the market

• 

  Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 25/02/2017 - 13:15

  +10

  • Owns multiple investment properties
  • Doesn't want to spend any money

  lol

  • 

    boomramada on 27/02/2017 - 16:43

    +1

    Well, that is how OP manage to buy multiple investments ;)

• 

  Lozthesaver on 25/02/2017 - 14:07

  +1

  I did say either free/cheap/no subscription model, I'm just wondering if there are any freebies on the market, if not then cheap or no subscription model will do. Rest Professional seems expensive at 2.8k set up costs. I was more thinking of the lines of a few hundred, with no subscription model. Thanks.

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 25/02/2017 - 14:51

    Rest professional is expensive because you are paying for time / maintainence to have a piece of software packaged to suit your needs
    2.8K is very cheap in the scope of things when you are managing property, and surely you would be charging for your services

    To answer you one more time:

    1. Nothing free exists that will suit your needs, anything that did exist was snapped up by REI master or Rest Professional (Rockend)

    2. Pricing is very fair for what you get with both packages, Rest Offer Support / Help you out as required with Install / Config and tech support as per your support agreement and I am not sure why you're against subscription models, You can buy Rest Professional outright which includes 1 year updates and support and maintainence, but remembering once that 1 year is up, you're up for big $$ if you want to upgrade / add features, by using a subscription, you pay for what you only need, not what you don't and they include support / sometimes cloud hosting in the package so your data is stored safely with Rest (Rockend), its your choice at the end of the day but from doing IT support over the years for many real estates (Expert on Rest BTW hence why I recommend it as its bloody good software) buy cheap and get cheap, there are enough headaches with property management as you already know, don't introduce more problems by being cheap, its not a good image to your clients / residents when you can do the lot with one package saving you more time and coin over the longer term.

    You don't expect to work for nothing, same go with the software companies, their time, experience and package that would suit your EXACT needs and requirements comes at a cost, just like everything else in life

    As much as I do not want to be a dick, don't manage property if you can't deal with the associated costs with software to help perform your role

    As I said before Property Management is a specialist market, there are only handful of software packages and for good reason to ensure a standard across the board, Possibly trial both REI Master and Rest before you invest into either one of them

    • 

      Lozthesaver on 25/02/2017 - 15:07

      Sorry Shawn, I might have given you the impression that I work for myself or for a real estate agent. This is just for my portfolio. I don't have an extensive portfolio (less then 5), I'm doing this for an analysis and to decide whether to invest into other ventures or stay put.
      But yeah, 2.8k for me is a bit rich for me.
      Thanks again for providing your input!I will look into the trials for the 2 products.

      • 

        [Deactivated] on 25/02/2017 - 15:09

        I would certainly invest now, if you have 5 properties then increase to 10 or 15 then you will be ready to go
        as much as I hate the niche market attitude with some software companies
        Rest and REI Master have perfected their package to be aligned within the real estate market
        Smart companies

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 25/02/2017 - 15:00

    +1

    Nothing exists out there, why? because real estate is a changing market and why lock people into outright purchases when you can reduce running costs by paying for the package over a year etc, what you want does not exist, end of story and from what I have seen of the packages outside of REI Master and Rest, they are utter crap, thats putting it bluntly for you and personally, I would not be supporting you as an IT company setting it up when its a convulted process and a complete mess when it comes to getting help and support, you'll find

    1. they will sell you the package, then support you for a few weeks maybe months then not reply
    2. they will not exist in the next 6 months, meaning you've just bought a program that is getting no support, no upgrades, not being kept up to date with security patches, myob integrations or Windows OS updates
    3. they will charge a fortune if you want to modify anything out of the base package, trust me, I know the market well enough to see this all the time, they come in and show you the "top of the line package" then when you buy it, you find out you're missing modules, you ring up to ask and they tell you, sorry thats in this package or module, its now another X amount to unlock

    Keep it simple, please, understand where I am coming from as someone who supports many real estates, you want simplicity and whilst I wasn't a big fan of subscriptions as first, guess what, its really better in the longer run because it gives you so many benefits as a company

• 

  captobvious on 25/02/2017 - 17:05

  Commbank has a basic feature built into netbank. tracks a few properties pretty well. Havent used it in a while, my accountant and CBA Private/premier banker keeps ontop of all this for me now.

• 

  ggrant on 25/02/2017 - 18:03

  Write your own?
  A lot of benefits in designing exactly what you need.
  I'm a CS dude, so I realize DB solutions are pretty quick to whip up in a short time.

  • 

    MrBear on 26/02/2017 - 10:31

    +1

    so I realize DB solutions are pretty quick to whip up in a short time

    Says the non-db programmer…

    • 

      ggrant on 02/03/2017 - 15:03

      I've spent years in MS Access some was for stock market analysis and trading, and worked a little with a couple of other DB systems. Test me!

• 

  Steptoe on 25/02/2017 - 21:54

  http://www.rentbook.com.au/pricing-signup

  Try it for free on 1 property

  • 

    Priceless Class on 26/02/2017 - 07:40

    +6

    If just for your private portfolio, why not use Excel? If you're just after somewhere you can put in all your income vs expenses to determine cash flow on a monthly and yearly basis, I don't know why you'd need anything further. If you do a bit of googling you'll come across some templates which you can then modify for your own needs.
    I use Excel and track:
    - all income
    - all expenses
    - monthly cash flow
    - year to date cash flow.
    - estimated impact on tax (with regards to any negative gearing).
    -Capital deductions

    It takes me about 15 minutes at the end of each month to plug in the numbers and also allows me to do predictive modelling.

    • 

      HeWhoKnows on 26/02/2017 - 09:54

      Yes, I have several properties and have used Excel for years. I just send it to my accountant at the end of the tax year and he prepares my tax return. Universal application. Its great!
      If you are interested let me know and I will tell you how to set it up or maybe ask "apric101" as he/she seems to be a little more advanced on the subject.

      • 

        Drifta on 26/02/2017 - 18:03

        I own zero properties. However, would like to know how to set this up. I can use it in the future and for now use it to track other expenses and smaller investments.

      • 

        ar993 on 22/03/2017 - 22:32

        I minute that too.
        Also save the living doco somewhere like Overdrive or Dropbox and update it on the go from any connected device

• 

  Euphemistic on 28/02/2017 - 09:38

  Excel, or your favourite spreadsheet variation. Only 5 properties you should be able to track it pretty well in a spreadsheet.

• 

  Pumpkin_rrr on 28/02/2017 - 16:16

  I'm trying to understand your requirements… you said "cashflow summaries" which I don't understand. And then you said Analysis. Do you self-manage or do you have PMs? If you can elaborate wd be great.