The Most Useful Tools for REI

Did you know that about 90% of millionaires earned their wealth by investing in real estate?

Contrary to popular belief, investing in real estate is an achievable goal even if you aren’t already wealthy. There are plenty of ways to get started with little to no money! You just need the most useful tools for REI and to decide on which of the three real estate investment strategies best fit your interests.

First, let’s start with the basics.

What Does REI Stand For and What Do These Professionals Do?

REI stands for “real estate investing” or “real estate investor.” As the name suggests, real estate investors find properties and use them as a source of income rather than a place of residence.

REI jobs can account for the sole source of income or can just be a side hustle. There are three primary ways to generate a profit as a real estate investor. They are...

Fixing and Flipping Houses for Beginners

Fix-and-flip investors purchase a property with the intention of fixing it up and selling it for a profit.

When a flipper purchases a property, they typically hold onto it for a few months. During this time, they’ll make any necessary updates or repairs in order to maximize the value of the property.

To help investors plan for their flip, PropStream offers a Rehab Calculator tool within the platform. Here, investors can get estimates for popular projects or individual actions!

Wholesaling Real Estate for Beginners

Wholesalers seek out property owners who may be burdened by their property and try to offer a solution to get it off their hands. 

Once a wholesaler has found an interested seller, they’ll try to connect them with another investor (typically a flipper) who is interested in the property. The wholesaler will keep a percentage from the sale.

The idea of wholesaling real estate can be confusing for beginners, so just think of it as the wholesaler acting as a sort of “middleman” (or, “middlewoman!”) between a seller and a buyer of a distressed property.

Many new investors start with wholesaling because it can offer a generous return while requiring little money to get started.

The Most Useful Tools to Get You Started

Once you’ve picked a lane for your real estate investing venture, it’s time to start finding properties to invest in!

Keep in mind, the features that your tools should provide and the properties you seek will depend on the type of investment strategy you choose to pursue.

Some of the most useful tools for REI are…

Google Trends

The goal of any entrepreneur is to stand out and persuade their target market to invest in their service or product.

Because of this, how you communicate with your audience is crucial. Google Trends makes it easier than ever to follow what potential leads are searching for. When you know what’s trending in your market, you can use relevant keywords and phrases for content and campaign creation.

Optimizing your content according to the search pattern of your target audience will allow you to rank higher in their Google search results. In turn, your name or website will rank higher than competitors, leading to more traffic and conversions!

In other words, Google Trends helps you “speak the language” of potential clients and customers so you can make sure you’re always on their radar.

Google Maps

We’ve all played around on Google Maps and looked at our neighborhood or community from a birds-eye view, but did you know Google Maps is also a useful tool for real estate investors?

This resource allows you to see the surrounding area of a property you’re considering investing in without leaving your house. For out-of-state investors, this function has been life-changing! 

Google Maps is also a free resource. It doesn’t cost you a dime to begin looking at properties and adding them to your radar before using another platform to get more in-depth property details. Also, it’s helpful when you can’t drive for dollars with a real estate data app.

While Google Maps is great for viewing properties, it can’t give you information about a region’s potential. With PropStream, you can take the satellite view and apply our Heat Map feature to the region you’re looking at to uncover worthwhile investment opportunities!

PropStream- Real Estate Data

Speaking of in-depth property details, PropStream combines MLS data and public records to help you find off-market properties and homeowners with a high motivation to sell.

While Google Maps offers the ability to look at properties from a distance, PropStream allows you to take those properties you’ve bookmarked and perform a deep dive on them.

Here are a few notable features that PropStream offers to help you get the most out of your search…

Quick Lists and Search Filters

If you’re an REI looking to target a homeowner with a distressed property, our Quick Lists are going to narrow down your search results. 

When you weed out the properties that best match your criteria, you’re saving time and energy that you would otherwise spend sorting through irrelevant leads. A few common Quick Lists that real estate investors like to use are…

• Pre-foreclosure
• Liens
• Vacant Properties
• Pre-probates 
• Tired Landlord

And many more! In total, we offer twelve Quick Lists to help you find the ideal homeowners to connect with.

Heat Maps

If you’re leaning more towards the buy and hold side of real estate investing, our Heat Maps will help you identify hot markets.

Search by city or county to uncover the rental values, estimated values, and price growth within the region. Or, narrow down your search even further by using our draw tool to target a specific neighborhood!

Saving Properties and Planning Your Marketing Campaign

Once you’ve found some properties of interest, you can create lists within PropStream to keep them organized.

You can categorize by status, neighborhood, city, or any other criteria you feel is appropriate. After you’ve created your lists and feel comfortable reaching out to the owners, we offer everything you need to skip trace the owners for contact information and create postcards, email campaigns, or a landing page.

Mobile App

Searching for properties on the go? No problem!

We offer a mobile app that allows you to search properties by address, APN, or geo-location. If you’re cruising around in search of properties, our “Driving for Dollars” feature allows you to track where you’ve driven.

Which REI Tools Will You Incorporate Into Your Business?

Entering the real estate investing industry is exciting but it can be overwhelming if you don’t know where to start.

Finding the most useful tools and resources for investing is going to set you up for success once you’ve uncovered your investing goals.

If you’re ready to boost your clientele and find better leads, we offer a 7-day free trial of PropStream and a checklist on how to get started with the PropStream 7-day free trial, which allows you to explore all of our features before making a financial commitment!