House flippers, wholesalers, and buy-and-hold investors all start their next projects the same way for the most part. The first thing they need is a project. Once they locate a property, all three need to understand what it will take to transform the property into a money maker.
That’s where things get interesting…
As a real estate investor, you have to:
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Inspect the house to see if it is even worth buying (or wholesaling);
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Make a list of what kind of repairs are needed;
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Figure out a price for those repairs by getting bids, using your experience, etc.; and
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Determine the maximum amount you would be willing to pay for the property based on the repairs.
This can be like an art form. Most of the time, two investors will come to two different amounts. Time can also be a problem. Good deals don’t stay on the market long – especially in the ‘hedge fund shopping spree’ era.
You need to gather the information quickly, make an assessment, and put in your bid – maybe in only a couple of days’ time.
We found two very useful real estate apps to help...
How to Beat the Competition Using Technology
The apps will not only help you on your inspection, but will also help you figure out your rehab costs more quickly.
The first one is called MagicPlan, and it seems to live up to its name pretty well. MagicPlan allows you to lay out the floor plan of the property you are evaluating right on your mobile device. Forget tape measures and notebooks.
All you have to do is:
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Stand in the middle of the room
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Hold your mobile device (with MagicPlan turned on) with two hands in front of you
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Spin around marking all the corners and doors in the room
So cool, right?
You just stand in the middle of the room and start with your device’s camera aimed at one corner where the wall meets the floor. You press the button on MagicPlan to mark the corner, and then move to the next corner and press the button. Repeat this process until you arrive back at the original corner, mark it and click ‘Done.’ Each time you mark a corner, MagicPlan puts down a virtual traffic cone to show where you marked.
No need to worry about corners that are obstructed by furniture or other objects…
When MagicPlan senses that a corner is hidden, it presents a grid on your screen. Take the grid and superimpose it on the objects until you have the corner of the grid sitting on where the corner of the room would be. MagicPlan can also compensate for corners that are not exactly 90 degrees.
Aren’t you loving this app? We are!
There are other buttons that mark the edges of doors when you come to those, so MagicPlan doesn’t think the two edges of the doors are two corners. It’s basically foolproof.
Once the room is drawn in MagicPlan, you can add other rooms to create a complete floor plan for the building you are thinking about buying.
From these floor plans you can:
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Figure out the amount of materials you will need for flooring, drywall, etc.
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Provide information for contractors to bid.
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Investigate possibilities of remodeling/changing the floor plan.
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Use when selling or renting the place out.
MagicPlan is available for FREE for both Android and Apple mobile devices, but you have to pay $19.99 per month for unlimited downloads. However, if you don’t mind water marks on your plans and are ok with PDF exports, you can just use the free version. That should be good enough for most real estate investors. Check out this brief video showing the awesome capabilities of MagicPlan.
A Trusted Friend Indeed
Now that you have your floor plan, you can figure out the cost of the rehab. That is where the other app comes in: FriendTrusted.
This is a great app to get bids on a project right away – usually within 24 hours. You can walk through a property, note everything that needs to be done and send out bids before you climb back in your car and drive away.
The way FriendTrusted works is by allowing you to take pictures of your property, or even a short video, and post them for contractors to see. You can also add text, such as ‘need granite countertop here,’ to the posting to have a contractor get a better idea of what you want.
Some contractors will want to come see the property to give you a bid, but many will use the information you send them. Obviously the more information you send them, the more accurate their bids will be.
Once you send out the bids, just wait…
Wait until the bids start rolling in. Often within just a couple of hours. You can quickly assemble bids for several different areas of the property and determine a rehab plan. From the rehab plan and pricing, you can determine a maximum amount you want to offer for the property.
The app also allows you to schedule the contractor for the job without having to call them or set everything up manually.
FriendTrusted has a network of contractors in the following cities. You can even view the list of contractors they have before sending out a bid.
If you have to put in an offer on a property quickly, FriendTrusted can really speed up the process of figuring out your rehab budget.
I Feel the Need for Speed
You will hear a lot of real estate investors say, “You can’t steal in slow motion.” Good deals are becoming more and more scarce. When you see one, you need to pounce. In order to pounce, you have to make sure ahead of time that you have everything in place.
MagicPlan and FriendTrusted can help you put things in place and make a great offer very quickly. They will also set you up for the actual rehabbing. If you are a wholesaler, you can show your potential buyers the floor plan of the house and potential fix-up costs very accurately, which in turn, will really help you build more trust between you and your buyer’s list.
Put Systems and Processes in Place – Don’t wait until a good deal shows up. Get.Ready.Now. Have all your paperwork and contracts ready to go. Learn how to determine repairs. Know your area well. When a property comes up, you can put a bid on it right away.
Save Time – Every self-made rich person became rich by managing their time efficiently. They did not spend time on low-value tasks. Learn how to stop doing the low-value stuff and concentrate on the high value. Find other people or technology that can take away the tasks you shouldn’t be doing and focus on the more important stuff.
Automate – Even high-value tasks can be automated, like estimating rehabs. Accurately estimating these costs can make or break your deals. MagicPlan and FriendTrusted can make this task easily automated.
Keep on Searchin’ – Allow yourself a little to do some searching on the web for the latest technology that might help your business. There are hundreds of thousands of apps out there and more on the way. In your constant quest to grow your business, you might find an app that can make a HUGE difference.
JP Moses
is a real estate investor in Memphis, TN, with experience ranging from land lording to note buying, rehabbing, and wholesaling. However, wholesaling is the area that he enjoys most and where he bring the most experience and expertise to his students.