The 10 Best Real Estate Apps for Investors

With the abundance of technology designed for real estate, you may be wondering which of these are truly the best real estate apps for investors.

While it will largely depend on what you as an investor need, there are a few apps that stand out more than the others. This may be because of a special feature or their ability to guide investors from the start to the end of any investment. 

Whichever you choose can make a big impact on your investment journey. With investors heavily relying on the data and estimates in these apps, it’s crucial to pick one that is accurate, up to date, and reliable. The last thing you want to do is base your real estate investment decisions based on misinformation. Keep reading to find out what are the best real estate apps for investors this 2022.

What Are Real Estate Apps Used For?

Before getting into the best real estate apps for investors, you should know what exactly real estate apps are used for. Like apps in different industries, a real estate app is meant to help make investors’ lives easier. It is no secret that when it comes to buying, selling, renting, or flipping a property, there are bound to be several factors and computations to be done. 

Previously, these computations would have to be done manually or with some limited help from technology. While there is nothing wrong with this method, real estate investors would spend weeks if not months just trying to find the data points to begin their computations. Making use of the app available today, this month-long process can now be done in a matter of minutes. While each app is different, here are some of the basic features most real estate apps will have to help you with your investment:

1. Finding and Listing a Property 

On the most basic level, real estate apps will help you find or sell properties on their platform. Most apps will have a search feature that will allow you to find a property based on particular characteristics. Oftentimes, this will include things like location, property type, price, square footage, number of rooms, etc. However, more and more apps have been improving on their filters to now include things like potential rental income, property history, days on the market, etc. 

In addition to finding a property, you can also list your properties on these apps whether it be for sale or for rent. Listing your property on an app can be quite beneficial due to its built-in audience. Top real estate apps will have thousands if not millions of users each day, which can be quite helpful in getting your listing potential buyers or renters. Whether it be a duplex for sale or a studio apartment for rent, these apps are sure to direct your listings to viable buyers and potential tenants instantly.

Related: The Ultimate Investment Property Search Tool

2. Calculations and Estimates

Perhaps the most crucial feature of any real estate app is its ability to conduct calculations and provide estimates regarding the potential performance of any property. When it comes to real estate, most people only consider the selling price and the possible rental income they may earn.

However, before even buying the property, you should have an estimate on the mortgage, repair costs, taxes, HOA dues, insurance, and other costs related to owning a home. While you may think you have enough to pay for the sticker price on the property, there are multiple additional costs that you need to consider that will affect your investments’ bottom line. 

After these initial estimates, the best apps for real estate investors will also include computations for things like rental value, cap rate, potential Airbnb occupancy rates, etc. These computations will help you decide if the initial price you paid to acquire the property is actually worth it. If the rental value and other estimates do not seem to justify the cost of investment, then you may want to look at a different and potentially more lucrative property. 

3. Comparative Analysis

While a comparative analysis is not a common feature in all apps, it is quite useful when a real estate app includes it in its services. What this feature does essentially is it allows you to compare your potential investment property against other homes with similar features in the same neighborhood. For example, you found a property worth $375,000 with a potential rental income of $3,000 a month. While in itself, this already seems like a lucrative deal, a comparative analysis will show how other properties similar to yours performed in the market. 

Though this may seem like a good deal initially, a comparative analysis may show you that properties in that area often go for $325,000 while commanding a rental price of $2,950 on average. Overall, comparative analysis in an app helps you get a better overall picture of the real estate market in your area so that you can make a well-informed decision.

Related: The Best Comparative Market Analysis Tools for Beginner Investors

Top 10 Best Real Estate Apps for Investors

Now that you know the basics of what real estate apps can do for you as an investor, it’s time to choose which app to use. While there are multiple platforms out there, these are the best real estate apps for investors in 2022. From their usability to unique features, these apps can help take your real estate investment strategies to the next level.

1. Zillow

Zillow is perhaps one of the most popular and well-known real estate apps in the market today. Known primarily as a listing and selling site for properties all around the country,  Zillow is a great starting point to find a potential property and even sell your properties down the road. With its popularity, you are almost guaranteed that your listing will have a lot of traffic and potentially have more potential buyers. Moreover, Zillow does also has quite a bit of useful data points for investors.

With its tool called Zestimate, investors are given access to data points regarding property median market value anywhere in the United States. Though its data points and features do often take a step behind their listing and selling features, it is still helpful from time to time. Depending on the information found by Zillow, you can filter through these data points by location, size, and current market environment.

Overall, Zillow is definitely one of the best real estate apps for investors this 2022. Though it does offer investors some data and important computation, where this app really shines is its marketplace. Zillow may not be the first app that comes to mind when crunching numbers for your investment, but it does offer one of the largest databases for property options in the country.

Read our full review: Zillow—Reliable Property Search Tool for Real Estate Investors?

2. Mashvisor

As one of the more comprehensive data analytics apps on this list, Mashvisor is definitely one of the best real estate apps for investors. From scouting a potential location to comparing a property’s potential performance as a traditional or short-term rental property, Mashvisor’s investment tools can help you every step of the way throughout your investment journey. To give you a better idea on how Mashvior works, here is a brief breakdown of its most prominent features:

Heatmap

Mashvishor’s heatmap is primarily used by investors to narrow down the best areas to invest in a city. While you may have decided on a city, not every neighborhood will perform similarly on the real estate market. That is why the heatmap color codes the best performing neighborhoods in the city to narrow down your options. Once you have decided on a neighborhood, you can search for properties within that area and can get a further breakdown of that specific property’s potential performance.

Rental Strategy Estimates

Once you’ve found a property, one of Mashvisor’s more unique features is giving estimates for both traditional and Airbnb rentals. Knowing that a property can perform quite differently depending on the rental strategy, Mashvisor is able to essentially show you if it has more profit potential on the traditional rental market or as an Airbnb or short-term rental. With this, you are able to adjust your real estate investment and adopt a more lucrative strategy for your potential property.

Comparative Analysis (Comps) and Return on Investment (ROI)

Once you’ve narrowed down your property options, Mashvisor allows you to conduct a comparative analysis in a matter of minutes. Pulling its data for MLS and the Airbnb website for short-term rentals, you can have a side-by-side comparison of a potential property against the general real estate market. Through this, you will also get a close estimate of the possible ROI of each potential property. 

Free Listings

While not as complicated as the other features, it is also worth noting that Mashvisor lets you list properties for free. If you are ready to sell or rent your investment property, Mashvisor’s Property Marketplace is a free listing platform that draws thousands of people to your property. Potential clients can also contact you directly on the site to keep all communications and investment inquiries in one app. 

With all of the aforementioned features, it is quite clear that Mashvisor is one of the best real estate apps for investors this year. No matter where you are in the process of investing, Mashvisor will be able to help you make the best real estate decision.

3. BiggerPockets

If you are a beginner real estate investor, BiggerPockets is a real estate app that offers quite a few resources for learning how to invest. While it does have tools and platform communications to connect you with real estate agents, that’s not what the website is most known for. The app also includes estimating tools for BRRR strategies, Airbnb rental, and other rental calculators that can help you with your computations for your investment.

However, what BiggerPockets is really known for is its real estate podcast. Even if you are a seasoned real estate investor, you may want to tune in and pick up a thing or two about the industry. 

With BiggerPockets’s educational tools along with its other features, it could definitely help investors this year. While not as known for its calculators and estimators, it is considered by many to be one of the best real estate apps for investors.

4. Rabbu

Founded in 2016, Rabbu is one of the best real estate apps for investors, especially when it comes to rental properties. It can give you projections and estimates on how your properties will perform on the real estate market. With its company philosophy of capitalizing on rental properties with shorter rental periods as opposed to sales, Rabbu is definitely using its data and technology to go with current market trends. Additionally, it also implemented a feature on its app that allows users and subscribers to book one-on-one conversations with a real estate expert from its team.

While still relatively new, Rabbu does have the potential to be a thriving property asset management app. 

5. AirDNA

AirDNA is a real estate app dedicated to helping investors with short-term rentals on the Airbnb platform and Vrbo. With the potential for higher rental income on short term rentals, many investors are looking into adding properties dedicated to this real estate investment strategy. 

With AirDNA, hosts and investors will be able to access features like market research data points on the short-term rental market specifically. Users and subscribers of the app can also use the app’s calculators for dynamic pricing to help manage the ever-changing rental price of Airbnb and Vrbo.

6. PropStream

PropStream may be one of the more business-centered real estate apps on the market. Like the other apps on this list, it has features that let users find properties on its platform. Using its data and other metrics, the app supposedly helps you find homeowners who are eager to sell, so you can get a better deal or more negotiating power at the very least. 

Additionally, PropStream has tools to help you advertise your investment properties to your target market. By tracking your listing and its performance on the app, it is able to give you marketing stats and customizable marketing tools to boost your property.

7. PriceLabs

As a real estate app for investors, PriceLabs‘s main feature is its pricing tools. While it offers other metrics, its dynamic pricing tool is the standout feature. No matter which short-term rental platform you decide to use, PriceLabs can help you keep your rental prices up to date. 

From special events to global holidays, the app can provide you with a full calendar and price estimates to coincide with these dates. It is also worth noting that PriceLabs is available all over the globe. With its dynamic pricing and non-existent geographical restrictions, PriceLabs is definitely one of the best real estate apps for short-term rentals.

You can check out a comprehensive comparison between PriceLabs vs Wheelhouse, another popular Airbnb dynamic pricing tool.

8. Beyond Pricing

Dedicated to helping investors maintain a high revenue on their short-term rentals, Beyond Pricing can help you with properly pricing your property. Like other pricing real estate apps, Beyond Pricing is a dynamic tool that deals with Airbnb and Vrbo properties. Using its data, the app gives you price estimates and calculations to not only help you earn more money, but also boost your rental’s occupancy rate year-round.

9. Flipster

If you are into flipping houses as your main real estate investment strategy, then chances are you’ve heard of the Flipster app. While the app does have quite a number of features, its main selling point is helping investors find cheap fixer-upper homes. Though these homes are often outdated, they do usually have homeowners motivated to sell below market price. 

Flipster also features a calculator tool to help you estimate the cost of repairs on any given property. With the cost of the property and repairs laid out, you should be able to determine if the fixer-upper is worth investing in. While it’s not the most comprehensive property data analysis, Flipster is definitely worth checking out for people looking to focus on flipping homes and properties.

10. PropertyRadar

Last on the list is PropertyRadar. PropertyRadar lets its users find potential properties by both location and owner. Meaning if you want to find a property owned by a specific company or person, PropertyRadar is your best bet. Once you’ve found a property, PropertyRadar can also show you the possible risks that property may have, like it may have been built over water. 

They also offer users a breakdown of the community demographics around the property. From race, education status, the population of children, etc. Moreover, PropertyRadar has a drive-through feature that lets you drive through neighborhoods to view available properties and get price estimates as you drive. Overall PropertyRadar is a good real estate app for investors especially ones on the go. 

The Bottom Line

As a real estate investor, using an app can truly help you in multiple facets of the industry. With these 10 best real estate apps for investors, building your portfolio may now be easier than you think. For a comprehensive investment analysis and end-to-end support, use Mashvior’s investment tools throughout every step of the way. Start out your 7-day free trial with Mashvisor now.