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5 Free Tools that can help you get started in Real Estate Investing

5 Free Tools that can help you get started in Real Estate Investing


There are hundreds of real estate tools out there that can help enhance your portfolio and scale your business.  However, when you are first starting out buying and renting your own properties, there are a few free tools that could be key to your success.  Here at KB4, when we first started we were scrappy in finding ways to save some additional cash so we could put that money back into the business as we grew.  In doing so we found a few different tools that helped us track and manage our portfolio and tenants without breaking the bank!


  1. Apartments.com: This is a great site for collecting rents, sending leases and tracking expenses.  There are multiple ways to use this and I am including a few below.

    1. Set up apartment and tenants to track lease dates along with tenant info

    2. Send an apt.com lease to a potential tenants so they can electronically sign or upload current lease

    3. Set up bank accounts allowing tenants to pay online through apt.com

    4. Post vacant units and redirect tenants to apply- apt.com can run background/credit check for the tenant

    5. Track expenses by uploading receipts and tagging the correct property

  2. Google Docs: Google docs are a staple in our business. We use them for sharing information between employees which allows real time updates when needed.  We have set up google sheets for each building allowing us to track all our income and expenses keeping a pulse on each property at that moment.  It helps save time and duplication as everyone can see updates instantly and you don’t have to save and send to the team everytime you make changes. 

  3. Google Voice: This is a great tool for managing properties and not giving tenants your direct cell phone number.  You can create a free account and have a number assigned to you.  You can use this number as your business line and give to  tenants, contractors, lenders, etc.  Once you download the app to your phone, it allows you to call and text right from your phone through the app.  Google Voice will also ask who is calling so you can screen calls before you answer(something we have never done..lol).

  4. Monday CRM: This is a great tool to keep all your contacts in one spot where you can label them and sort accordingly.  It takes a little playing around with to figure out how it can work best for you and your business but once again, it is free.  We used this to organize all our vendors tracking their numbers, emails and notes associated with them.  This enabled us to easily access a plumber when needed as we would have all the info in Monday.  Monday also integrates with multiple other sites and can be used more effectively than we used it.

  5. Spotcrime: This tool has been very helpful when examining a market we are purchasing a property in.  This allows you to see what part of the area has the most crimes, what they consist of, and how recent they were.  You can easily click on surrounding areas and if you have not visited the property yet, it gives a good determination of the best spots to buy and the ones that may cause more problems.


In conclusion, free tools are great to take advantage of and they can definitely help you run and grow your business.  The goal for the company is to have you sign up for the “Pro” version which has more features but if you are willing to deal with a few of the nuances associated with the free version, you will be good to go with growing your business.  Try exploring some of these tools and let us know what you think. If you have a different free service that works great, please share with us.  And as always, Get In The Game!


Reach out to Bill or Bob to learn more about becoming an investor with KB4 →



 
 
 

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