16 Real Estate Apps You Can't Live Without (And They're Free!)
Real estate stuff? Yup, there’s an app for that. A lot of them, actually. And they’re making the real estate life easier every day. With everything from property hunting to cap rates, to rating potential investments to app-powered closings, here are 16 real estate apps you don’t want to live without.
Devices: iPad
What It Does: With CoStarGo, you can look through CoStar's property and listings database for any location. The results—presented on a Google Map—can be pinpointed for specific areas and neighborhoods and includes market data like area occupancy, absorption and sale comps. Individual properties show data like floor plans, agents, landlords and principals. And the data's all up to date, of course.
Where You Can Get It: You can schedule a demo here.
Cost: Free, although you will need a premium subscription to access all of the app's features.
Devices: iPhone, Android
What It Does: As the first global commercial property search app ("from Manhattan to Moscow," RCA boasts), RCA's Commercial Real Estate Transaction Search has many features that you can find on other apps (such as a Google Map display), but focusing mainly on comps from property sales, refinancings, and transfers. You can tap properties to see transaction details, type, price (total and per unit), cap rate and the parties involved. It even features details for all commercial property types: office, retail, industrial, multifamily apartments, hotels, senior housing and development sites.
Where You Can Get It: The Apple Store and Google Play.
Cost: Free, but you'll need another premium subscription to access all the features.
Devices: iPad, iPhone, Android
What It Does: LoopNet shows you all the information you'll need about a property, including comps, tenant analysis, mortgage terms and information about physical structure. Like CoStarGo, LoopNet searches rental and sale properties all across the nation on a Google Map, which can be zoomed in for more detailed analysis. An individual property listing shows its rental rate, broker contact information and even a description. And you use a wide variety of filters to find exactly the property you're looking for and even receive alerts when properties that match your criteria hit the market.
Where You Can Get It: The App Store and Google Play.
Cost: Free
Devices: iPad, Desktop, Tablet and Smartphone
What It Does: While not really an app, we felt that the web-based service was too strong to pass up. With a massive database (64 million documents pressed, 10 billion data points crunched, 3.5 million properties covered), Reonomy can help give you all the validated, up-to-date information you will need on any commercial property. With only the tap of a finger, you can see a property's debt, ownership, sales history, operating income and cross-collaterization, as well as hard-to-find source documents and loan intelligence. The Reonomy team promises you will be able to predict upcoming investment opportunities and marketing trends, maximize returns on your investments and form stronger relations with clients.
Where You Can Get It: You can request a demo here. While the service only works for New York at the moment, new markets are very coming soon.
Cost: The demo is free, and the service itself has a price-per-user agreement.
Devices: Android, BlackBerry, iPad, iPhone
What It Does: Catylist uses a map-based search system to provide information on commercial properties and transactions. With the app, you can upload and update your own listing catalog and filter through thousands of properties by type, price size and other factors.
Where You Can Get It: In a somewhat roundabout fashion, you will need to go here and set this site as an app.
Cost: Free, with a subscription.
Devices: iPhone, iPod, iPad
What It Does: ReaLync offers pre-recorded tours of properties or live, virtual interactions with brokers as they explore the space. With the option to bring in countless people on your virtual tours of properties, you can make sure your entire office is satisfied with a property. You can even ask questions about a property, access details (with just a finger tap), take photos, and have private chats with agents and brokers.
Where You Can Get It: The App Store.
Cost: Free
Devices: iPad
What It Does: CBRE's app can help you track capital flows and trends in commercial real estate all across the world. You can zero in on certain markets seamlessly, look at the leading sources of capital, and find and compare the best markets for your next investment. The app's data includes analysis on current and historical information for each market. You can even look at the market value in different currencies, mark your favorite markets and use the app when offline.
Where You Can Get It: The App Store.
Cost: Free
Devices: iPhone, iPad
What It Does: iPropertyMgr helps property managers oversee their properties, keep track of and document issues, and communicate with clients and offices quickly and efficiently. Forms from your properties or office can be submitted and then sent in automatically via generated emails. You can also review, edit and approve your data, and generate reports in multiple formats (Excel spreadsheets and PDFs, for example). The app will even send you reports of how your properties, staff and vendors are performing. While the app can be used without the Internet, you will need a connection to sync and upload documents.
Where You Can Get It: The App Store.
Cost: Free, then a $20/month subscription
Devices: iPhone, iPad
What It Does: Used by over 12,000 businesses around the globe (including airports, hotels, banks, stores, fitness centers, single, multifamily and commercial real estate acquisition and management firms), HappyCo's Inspector app takes the edge off your next inspection. The app has a highly customizable template creator and multiple reporting options, which makes the reference and filing process quicker and more efficient. The app also allows you to view, create, update and transfer inspection reports and property information on the fly, and you can add pictures to forms and set reminders for yourself the next time you visit the property. And the app is cross-platform, allowing you to work on your forms both at your computer and on the go.
Where You Can Get It: The App Store.
Cost: Free for a demo (five inspection reports), then there is a pay-as-you-go plan or three tiers of subscriptions.
Devices: The web-based is optimized for desktop browsers, but not fully optimized for tablet or mobile.
What It Does: WegoWise helps owners and managers easily monitor utilities used to increase efficiency and lower costs. The app tracks utility data automatically, and you can compare the usage amongst various properties, units or other groupings you fancy. You can compare your buildings' energy usage to other similar buildings. In addition to giving you a WegoScore that rates your efficiency, WegoWise can help you track and identify unusual energy spikes while also giving you suggestions of how to save money with energy investments, including an estimated ROI.
Where You Can Get It: You can request a demo here.
Cost: The app itself is free, and then WegoHome continues to be free, while WegoPro service starts at $10/building/month and WegoPremium reporting service starts at $25/building/month.
Devices: iPad, iPhone, Android
What It Does: For those looking for LEED certification, Green Badger makes documenting and verifying LEED construction credits easy and convenient. You can even do it in the field or at your desk with a cross-platform, cloud-based program. The app can also help you cut paperwork, verify VOC content, provide real-time updates on a property and export reports to LEED certification boards. Green Badger has also released a LEED Water Use Calculator, which helps maximize water savings. Whether you are building a new property or renovating one, the app helps determine which plumbing construction will be the most efficient and most likely to be LEED certified.
Where You Can Get It: The App Store and Google Play.
Cost: Free, although the upgraded version can be purchased for $3.99.
Devices: iPad, iPod
What It Does: A cloud-based technology platform, Property Capsule helps manage your commercial real estate leasing portfolio. Easily accessible and presentable to clients, the app features specialized tools, such as flyers and interactive site plans that can be automatically updated whenever a tenant or information changes. No longer will you need to print or ship leasing materials for trade shows and sales calls. You can even run custom branded presentations while offline.
Where You Can Get It: The App Store.
Cost: Free
Devices: iPod, iPad, Android, BlackBerry
What It Does: Angus AnyWhere Mobile allows property managers to improve efficiency and respond quickly to any problems and emergency. With the ability to search and query capabilities, process (and add photos to) work orders, create to-do lists, create emergency notifications, and manage vendors, property and field staff, the app gives you every tool needed for managing a property. And every capability can be used offline, although a connection can keep your property's information up-to-date.
Where You Can Get It: The App Store and Google Play.
Cost: Free to subscribers of its SaaS platform.
Devices: iPod, iPad
What It Does: With any Apple Device that uses WiFi or 3G, Tyrell System's eBMS/Mobile app allows you to control and monitor your commercial properties' intruder alarms, fire alarms, temperature control and other connected systems from anywhere in the world. You can also view graphs of system data, as well as view, set and clear system alarms. The interface is intuitive and the systems don't need to be engineered to work with the app, since the app can look through a database of various configurations, graphics, schedules and alarm stores and connect to them to your device.
Where You Can Get It: The App Store.
Cost: Free
Devices: iPhone
What It Does: Yardi produces several mobile apps, but the CRM Mobile app is probably the most interesting. Yardi CRM helps combine Yardi's Voyager—an end-to-end commercial property and financial management platform for office, retail and industrial real estate, automating processes with role-based dashboards, workflows, critical date notifications and analytics—to improve your portfolio and your interactions with clients. Perfect for leasing agents and management, Yardi CRM mobile puts all the leasing data in an easy-to-use interface with role-specific dashboard and custom filters. You can access a wide variety of data (contacts, tasks, events, leads, deals and leases), create, edit and view contacts and appointments and leads while offline, search for available units and approve workflows to improve the organizational approval process. With all these tools readily available, Yardi CRM gives you all the insight you and your team need for the quick and intelligent business decisions.
Where You Can Get It: The App Store.
Cost: Free
Devices: iPhone, iPad
What It Does: ReOptimizer helps you maximize your competitive edge for top tenants and drive costs downs by aggregating the cost of commercial real estate for corporations and then benchmarking those costs to current market conditions. With the app, corporate real estate execs and lease administration teams can balance their portfolios, streamline communication, manage projects across organizations and look at countless variables for competing offers for tenancy.
Where You Can Get It: You can request a demo here.
Cost: Free
CORRECTION, OCT. 12, 9:47 A.M. ET: An earlier version of this story didn't specify that Angus Anywhere is only free for people paying for its SaaS offering. It has been updated.
