PropertyEvaluator
New Features for Lion and iOS 5
January 17, 2012 Filed in: Property Evaluator
2012 promises to be a great year for real estate investors. Many markets are nearing the bottom of their cycles, and investors are getting great deals on properties. We’re seeing more upside appreciation potential than we’ve seen in many years.
2012 will also be a great year for analyzing your potential deals with Property Evaluator on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac! Here’s a quick summary of the latest new features, and a sneak peak at what’s next.
New Features
In July of 2011, Apple released OS X 10.7 Lion for the Mac, and in October they released iOS 5 for the iPhone and iPad. These are the most significant updates in recent years, and they add many new features for users and developers.
2012 will also be a great year for analyzing your potential deals with Property Evaluator on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac! Here’s a quick summary of the latest new features, and a sneak peak at what’s next.
New Features
In July of 2011, Apple released OS X 10.7 Lion for the Mac, and in October they released iOS 5 for the iPhone and iPad. These are the most significant updates in recent years, and they add many new features for users and developers.
Version 3.9 of Property Evaluator was just released, and it now requires OS X 10.7 Lion or iOS 5 as the minimum operating system. If you’re still running iOS 4 on your iPhone or iPad, you can still run version 3.8, but iOS 5 is a free update, and it’s compatible with the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, and any iPad, so you really should update when you get a chance.
The main reason for requiring iOS 5 and Lion is that iCloud requires them (more on iCloud and syncing later). The other reason is that Apple added a new compiler technology called ARC that makes apps run faster, and it makes them much more resistant to crashes and memory bugs. All of the Real Estate Tools apps are now fully converted to ARC.
One of the new features in version 3.9 is the ability to print the PDF reports directly from your iPhone or iPad. Note that this requires an AirPrint-compatible printer. You can also install some utilities on your Mac to enable AirPrint from any of your printers. My favorite is Printopia.
I also spent quite a bit of time optimizing the PDF reports to reduce the file size. In many of my tests, especially with properties that had lots of photos, the PDF file size was about 80% smaller than before. This will make it faster and easier to email your real estate projections to your clients, lenders, and investment partners.
Another new feature is that now you can choose whether you want to copy the photos when you duplicate a property. This is really helpful when you want to create projections for several similar properties, where the main differences are the street address and the photos.
You might have noticed that the Property Reports now include some colorful new graphs of Cash Flow, Equity, and Internal Rate of Return. These are the most important financial metrics in real estate investing, and it’s really helpful to see a visual representation 30 years into the future.
What’s Next?
The most popular feature request over the last year has been to add the ability to sync data between the iPhone, iPad, and Mac versions of Property Evaluator. Syncing data across multiple devices is a very challenging technical problem, but fortunately, Apple introduced a new service called iCloud in Lion and iOS 5 that makes syncing much easier to implement. The ability to sync the data in Property Evaluator is under development, and it should be available within the next couple of months.
Another popular feature request has been to make it faster and easier to estimate your improvement costs. The next major release will feature a completely new approach to estimating your improvement costs. More on this in a future blog post…
Real Estate Investment Portfolio Analysis
July 08, 2011 Filed in: Property Evaluator
One of the most popular feature requests for Property Evaluator has been the ability to analyze portfolios of multiple properties. I’m happy to announce that version 3.7 now includes the ability to create and analyze multiple portfolios!
You can download a sample Portfolio Analysis Report to see what it looks like.
Here’s a quick summary of what you can do:
• Create multiple property portfolios.
• Add up to 26 properties to each portfolio.
• A property can belong to multiple portfolios.
• The Portfolio Analysis shows you a comparison of the main financial metrics for each property in the portfolio.
• You can also see the combined performance of all properties in the portfolio.
• View a map showing all of the properties in the portfolio.
• Email a portfolio report to your clients, lenders, or investment partners as a PDF file.
• You can also sort properties alphabetically, by date added, or by key financial metrics.
I’m already getting some great feedback from customers who are using the portfolio analysis. Investors are using it to filter out the best deals from a large number of properties that they’re thinking about buying. Real estate agents are using it to put together portfolio reports for their clients who are interested in buying several properties at once. Other real estate agents are creating a portfolio for each one of their investor clients, and customizing each portfolio to each client’s needs.
Please take a look at the portfolio analysis in version 3.7 and let me know what you think!
You can download a sample Portfolio Analysis Report to see what it looks like.
Here’s a quick summary of what you can do:
• Create multiple property portfolios.
• Add up to 26 properties to each portfolio.
• A property can belong to multiple portfolios.
• The Portfolio Analysis shows you a comparison of the main financial metrics for each property in the portfolio.
• You can also see the combined performance of all properties in the portfolio.
• View a map showing all of the properties in the portfolio.
• Email a portfolio report to your clients, lenders, or investment partners as a PDF file.
• You can also sort properties alphabetically, by date added, or by key financial metrics.
I’m already getting some great feedback from customers who are using the portfolio analysis. Investors are using it to filter out the best deals from a large number of properties that they’re thinking about buying. Real estate agents are using it to put together portfolio reports for their clients who are interested in buying several properties at once. Other real estate agents are creating a portfolio for each one of their investor clients, and customizing each portfolio to each client’s needs.
Please take a look at the portfolio analysis in version 3.7 and let me know what you think!
Version 3.6 Adds Several New Features
May 18, 2011 Filed in: Property Evaluator
Version 3.6 of Property Evaluator is available as a free update in the App Store. This is a major release with several new features:
- Now you can add your company logo to the Cover Page and header of the PDF Report
- There's a new Overview page in the PDF report, which includes a financial summary, property photo, and a map of the property location
- Now you can add Initial Improvements, which are included in the Initial Cash Invested. This is intended for the initial rehab and capital improvements that are done when you first purchase the property.
- Itemized Buying Costs and Selling Costs are now shown in the PDF report
- The mortgage info is not displayed in the PDF report when the loan amounts are zero. This simplifies the report for an all-cash purchase.
- Added Rent per Square Foot and the Operating Expense Ratio to the Purchase Summary
- The Property Description and Notes fields are now included in all versions of the app
- Now you can add your company logo to the Cover Page and header of the PDF Report
- There's a new Overview page in the PDF report, which includes a financial summary, property photo, and a map of the property location
- Now you can add Initial Improvements, which are included in the Initial Cash Invested. This is intended for the initial rehab and capital improvements that are done when you first purchase the property.
- Itemized Buying Costs and Selling Costs are now shown in the PDF report
- The mortgage info is not displayed in the PDF report when the loan amounts are zero. This simplifies the report for an all-cash purchase.
- Added Rent per Square Foot and the Operating Expense Ratio to the Purchase Summary
- The Property Description and Notes fields are now included in all versions of the app
What is the Internal Rate of Return?
February 22, 2011 Filed in: Property Evaluator
In Version 3.5.1 of Property Evaluator, the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) was added to the Sale Analysis. The technical definition of Internal Rate of Return is the discount rate at which the Net Present Value (NPV) of future cash flows equal to your initial cash investment. However, an easier way to understand the Internal Rate of Return is that it compares the return on your real estate investment to a savings account with a fixed interest rate, compounding annually. The Internal Rate of Return also accounts for the time value of money. In other words, the value of a dollar today is greater than the value of a dollar 10 years from now, due to inflation.
The charts below attempt to explain IRR in a simple, visual way.
The first chart shows the results of investing $10,000 in a savings account with a 20% interest rate, compounding annually. The purple bar represents the balance carried over from the previous year, and the blue bar represents the interest that accumulated in the given year. The blue bar also represents the annual cash flow for the given year.
The next chart shows the performance of the same savings account in a different way. In this chart, only the annual cash flows are shown. In the first year, the cash flow is negative $10,000, since you paid $10,000 out-of-pocket to fund the savings account. In each year, you get a progressively larger cash flow in return. In the last year, you get your initial investment back in addition to the interest that accumulated during the final year. This is shown by the shaded bar in Year 10.
The next chart shows the annual cash flows for a real estate investment. The cash flow is negative for the first couple of years, and it becomes positive in Year 3. When you sell the property in Year 10, the proceeds from the sale are much larger than the bar in the savings account example above. Which investment do you think has the best Internal Rate of Return?
The answer is that the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) is exactly the same if both of these investments are held for 10 years. How can this be true?
Take a look at the chart below. It compares the annual cash flows for the savings account and the real estate investment. The real estate investment has some negative cash flows in the first year, but at first glance they look pretty small relative to the big difference in the proceeds from the sale in Year 10. The reason for the optical illusion is the time value of money. A dollar that is earned or spent in Year 1 is worth much more than a dollar that is earned or spent in Year 10. In this example, a dollar in Year 1 is worth about 6 dollars in Year 10. In more technical terms, 6 dollars in Year 10 has the same Net Present Value as one dollar in Year 1 at a discount rate of 20%. In simple terms, there was a pretty big opportunity cost of the negative cash flow in Year 1. The great thing about the Internal Rate of Return is that now you can compare the performance of your real estate investments to a CD, bond, mutual fund, or a risky loan to your brother-in-law!
The charts below attempt to explain IRR in a simple, visual way.
The first chart shows the results of investing $10,000 in a savings account with a 20% interest rate, compounding annually. The purple bar represents the balance carried over from the previous year, and the blue bar represents the interest that accumulated in the given year. The blue bar also represents the annual cash flow for the given year.
The next chart shows the performance of the same savings account in a different way. In this chart, only the annual cash flows are shown. In the first year, the cash flow is negative $10,000, since you paid $10,000 out-of-pocket to fund the savings account. In each year, you get a progressively larger cash flow in return. In the last year, you get your initial investment back in addition to the interest that accumulated during the final year. This is shown by the shaded bar in Year 10.
The next chart shows the annual cash flows for a real estate investment. The cash flow is negative for the first couple of years, and it becomes positive in Year 3. When you sell the property in Year 10, the proceeds from the sale are much larger than the bar in the savings account example above. Which investment do you think has the best Internal Rate of Return?
The answer is that the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) is exactly the same if both of these investments are held for 10 years. How can this be true?
Take a look at the chart below. It compares the annual cash flows for the savings account and the real estate investment. The real estate investment has some negative cash flows in the first year, but at first glance they look pretty small relative to the big difference in the proceeds from the sale in Year 10. The reason for the optical illusion is the time value of money. A dollar that is earned or spent in Year 1 is worth much more than a dollar that is earned or spent in Year 10. In this example, a dollar in Year 1 is worth about 6 dollars in Year 10. In more technical terms, 6 dollars in Year 10 has the same Net Present Value as one dollar in Year 1 at a discount rate of 20%. In simple terms, there was a pretty big opportunity cost of the negative cash flow in Year 1. The great thing about the Internal Rate of Return is that now you can compare the performance of your real estate investments to a CD, bond, mutual fund, or a risky loan to your brother-in-law!
The Mac Version of Property Evaluator is Now Available!
January 05, 2011 Filed in: Property Evaluator
I’m pleased to announce that the Mac version of Property Evaluator is available starting today. The Mac version will be sold exclusively through the Mac App Store, which also launches today. The Mac App Store is like the App Store for iPhone and iPad apps, but the apps will run on Mac desktop and laptop computers.
When the iPad version was launched in August, many customers were pleased with how the larger screen size of the iPad made the app easier to use relative to the iPhone version. Instead of navigating through multiple screens in the iPhone version, the iPad version lets you change any of the property input values from a single screen. This makes data entry easier, and it lets real estate agents give a more professional presentation of the financial analysis to their investor clients right on the iPad.
You can download a free 2-week trial of the Mac version at RealEstateTools.com. Please download the app today and give it a try. I’m always eager to hear customer feedback, and I prioritize my to-do list accordingly.
If you’re an investor, I guarantee that Property Evaluator will increase your profits by filtering out the best deals. If you’re a real estate agent, Property Evaluator will help you make more sales to your investor clients by creating professional financial projections that can be quickly emailed as PDF files.
When the iPad version was launched in August, many customers were pleased with how the larger screen size of the iPad made the app easier to use relative to the iPhone version. Instead of navigating through multiple screens in the iPhone version, the iPad version lets you change any of the property input values from a single screen. This makes data entry easier, and it lets real estate agents give a more professional presentation of the financial analysis to their investor clients right on the iPad.
You can download a free 2-week trial of the Mac version at RealEstateTools.com. Please download the app today and give it a try. I’m always eager to hear customer feedback, and I prioritize my to-do list accordingly.
If you’re an investor, I guarantee that Property Evaluator will increase your profits by filtering out the best deals. If you’re a real estate agent, Property Evaluator will help you make more sales to your investor clients by creating professional financial projections that can be quickly emailed as PDF files.
New Feature: Itemize and Estimate Improvement Costs!
October 27, 2010 Filed in: Property Evaluator
Property Evaluator version 3.4 was released today for the iPhone and iPad. Version 3.4 adds the ability to itemize and estimate improvement costs, and enter improvements in future years. This has been one of the most-requested features since the 3.0 release. This feature took quite a while to implement, but I’m really happy with how it turned out.
So now you can enter the improvement costs in 3 different ways:
1.) As a fixed dollar amount. This is useful when you just have a few improvements and you know the total improvement cost off the top of your head.
2.) As a single cost per square foot value. Experienced investors who flip properties often estimate improvement costs with a fixed improvement cost per square foot. For example, a basic cleanup and make-ready job might be $5 per square foot, while a complete remodel might be $25 per square foot.
3.) As itemized expenses. If the property needs extensive repairs and improvements, you can itemize the expenses, and the total improvement cost will be calculated automatically. Each itemized improvement cost can be entered as a fixed amount, or it can be estimated using the built-in cost estimator.
The cost estimator allows you to create your own custom improvement categories and assign a unit name and cost per unit to each one. For example, you might estimate carpet at $3 per square foot, and a new roof at $2 per square foot.
Improvement costs can also be entered in future years.
So let’s say I’m a flipper walking through a property. I see that the carpet in the 12-foot square living room needs to be replaced, so I add an itemized improvement called “Carpet in Living Room”, enter 144 for the quantity, and tap on the Carpet category. Then I see that the roof might need to be replaced in 5 years, so I add an itemized improvement in Year 5, choose the “Replace Roof” category, and enter the property square footage.
Now the itemized improvement costs are automatically calculated and presented in a simple table. This is really helpful when you need to present a financial projection to a lender or an investment partner.
If you find this feature useful, please send me your feedback or write a review on iTunes. More exciting news is on the way, so keep an eye on this blog for updates.
1.) As a fixed dollar amount. This is useful when you just have a few improvements and you know the total improvement cost off the top of your head.
2.) As a single cost per square foot value. Experienced investors who flip properties often estimate improvement costs with a fixed improvement cost per square foot. For example, a basic cleanup and make-ready job might be $5 per square foot, while a complete remodel might be $25 per square foot.
3.) As itemized expenses. If the property needs extensive repairs and improvements, you can itemize the expenses, and the total improvement cost will be calculated automatically. Each itemized improvement cost can be entered as a fixed amount, or it can be estimated using the built-in cost estimator.
The cost estimator allows you to create your own custom improvement categories and assign a unit name and cost per unit to each one. For example, you might estimate carpet at $3 per square foot, and a new roof at $2 per square foot.
Improvement costs can also be entered in future years.
So let’s say I’m a flipper walking through a property. I see that the carpet in the 12-foot square living room needs to be replaced, so I add an itemized improvement called “Carpet in Living Room”, enter 144 for the quantity, and tap on the Carpet category. Then I see that the roof might need to be replaced in 5 years, so I add an itemized improvement in Year 5, choose the “Replace Roof” category, and enter the property square footage.
Now the itemized improvement costs are automatically calculated and presented in a simple table. This is really helpful when you need to present a financial projection to a lender or an investment partner.
If you find this feature useful, please send me your feedback or write a review on iTunes. More exciting news is on the way, so keep an eye on this blog for updates.
Version 3.3 lets you duplicate properties!
September 28, 2010 Filed in: Property Evaluator
Version 3.3 of Property Evaluator was released today with some great new features.
I really try to prioritize my development efforts based on customer feedback, and today’s update delivers the most popular feature requests over the last few months.
First up is the ability to duplicate properties. This is really useful in a couple of situations. Let’s say that you just finished analyzing a property, and now you want to look at some what-if scenarios. What if the rent is 10% lower? What if I put 30% down instead of 20% down? The list goes on. Instead of entering the property data all over again, you can just duplicate the property, change a number or two, and see how it affects the performance projections.
The Duplicate feature is also really handy if you’re a real estate agent and you want to create projections for several listings that are all very similar. For example, you might be listing 5 condos in the same development that all have the same floor plan, but the addresses are different, and the prices are slightly different. Now you can just duplicate the first property, change the address and the price, and send out a PDF of the projection to your clients.
Many people requested the ability to add their contact info to the header of each page of the performance projection, so I added that to version 3.3 as well. You can customize what info appears in the header by choosing PDF Report Settings from the Settings within the app.
You can also add a disclaimer to the bottom of the cover page of the PDF Report, and you can add some comments about the property, that appear just below the property address on the cover page.
You can also enter some private notes about the property, that are only visible within the app. For example, you might enter some data that is only visible to agents within the MLS. The private notes do not appear on the PDF Reports.
Finally, I added the Assumptions section to the Evaluator report, and I added a clear button on the right side of the text entry fields so that you can clear the contents of the text field with a single tap instead of multiple taps on the backspace button.
I really appreciate all of the great feedback and feature requests. Together, we can make some really great tools for real estate investors!
Property Evaluator for iPad
August 25, 2010 Filed in: Property Evaluator
Today I'm happy to announce that Property Evaluator is now available for the iPad!
The iPad version offers the following improvements over the iPhone version:
1.) It takes full advantage of the larger screen size, with larger font sizes and graphics that make the reports easier to read.
2.) Data entry is much easier. Instead of drilling down through several navigation layers on the iPhone version, the iPad version allows you to edit the value of a number by simply tapping on it.
3.) You can preview the PDF report on the screen before you email it to your clients or investment partners.
I've been working hard on the iPad version for the last 6 months. Now that the initial release is behind me, I'll be able to get back to adding new features to all of the versions.
If you have any comments or feature requests for the iPad version, please let me know. I'm constantly adjusting my priorities based on customer feedback.
Also, if you could take the time to write a review on iTunes, I would really appreciate it.
The iPad version offers the following improvements over the iPhone version:
1.) It takes full advantage of the larger screen size, with larger font sizes and graphics that make the reports easier to read.
2.) Data entry is much easier. Instead of drilling down through several navigation layers on the iPhone version, the iPad version allows you to edit the value of a number by simply tapping on it.
3.) You can preview the PDF report on the screen before you email it to your clients or investment partners.
I've been working hard on the iPad version for the last 6 months. Now that the initial release is behind me, I'll be able to get back to adding new features to all of the versions.
If you have any comments or feature requests for the iPad version, please let me know. I'm constantly adjusting my priorities based on customer feedback.
Also, if you could take the time to write a review on iTunes, I would really appreciate it.
Property Evaluator 3 is Now Available!
April 16, 2010 Filed in: Property Evaluator
Property Evaluator 3 for the iPhone is now available on the App Store!
This version has been in the works for the last year. Property Evaluator was completely rewritten from the ground up to create a real estate analysis tool that is much more powerful and flexible than the previous version.
In version 3 you can create your own custom categories for income, expenses, and itemized closing costs. You can also assign a custom frequency to any transaction. For example, you might collect rent monthly, pay your insurance annually, and pay your homeowner’s association dues quarterly. With version 3, you can enter these items exactly the way you pay them.
You can also make any transaction proportional to another transaction. For example, you could make the rent 1% of the purchase price, make the taxes 1% of the sale price, make the management fees 10% of the annual income, or make the sale price $100 per square foot. This makes the data entry much more accurate and efficient.
Property Evaluator is now available in 3 versions: Standard, Premium, and Pro. The Standard version is limited to evaluating a single property with up to 3 expenses. The Premium version lets you save multiple properties, and email the financial projections to your clients, lenders, or investment partners as a PDF file. The Pro version adds the ability to evaluate multi-unit and commercial properties, and it adds a cover page to the PDF reports with your name, company, and contact info.
In version 3, the emails are sent directly from the iPhone app instead of through the server.
You can upgrade to the Premium or Pro versions directly within the Standard version using in-app purchase. Note that version 3 is a separate app from version 2. So if you already purchased version 2, you’ll have to purchase version 3 separately. I had to do this for the following reasons:
1.) I created a new data format that is much more flexible and powerful than the old format, and the two formats are not compatible.
2.) In order to enable in-app purchase within the app, I had to create a different type of App ID that wasn't compatible with the old Property Evaluator app.
3.) Version 3 requires iPhone OS 3 or higher, while version 2.5 works with iPhone OS 2 and higher. I wanted to keep the older version available for people who haven't upgraded their iPhone OS to version 3 yet.
I’m really excited about this release, since it builds a solid foundation for many more great new features that I have planned.
The next project that I’m working on is creating versions of Property Evaluator for the iPad! The extra screen space is going to allow some really nice enhancements to the user interface!
This version has been in the works for the last year. Property Evaluator was completely rewritten from the ground up to create a real estate analysis tool that is much more powerful and flexible than the previous version.
In version 3 you can create your own custom categories for income, expenses, and itemized closing costs. You can also assign a custom frequency to any transaction. For example, you might collect rent monthly, pay your insurance annually, and pay your homeowner’s association dues quarterly. With version 3, you can enter these items exactly the way you pay them.
You can also make any transaction proportional to another transaction. For example, you could make the rent 1% of the purchase price, make the taxes 1% of the sale price, make the management fees 10% of the annual income, or make the sale price $100 per square foot. This makes the data entry much more accurate and efficient.
Property Evaluator is now available in 3 versions: Standard, Premium, and Pro. The Standard version is limited to evaluating a single property with up to 3 expenses. The Premium version lets you save multiple properties, and email the financial projections to your clients, lenders, or investment partners as a PDF file. The Pro version adds the ability to evaluate multi-unit and commercial properties, and it adds a cover page to the PDF reports with your name, company, and contact info.
In version 3, the emails are sent directly from the iPhone app instead of through the server.
You can upgrade to the Premium or Pro versions directly within the Standard version using in-app purchase. Note that version 3 is a separate app from version 2. So if you already purchased version 2, you’ll have to purchase version 3 separately. I had to do this for the following reasons:
1.) I created a new data format that is much more flexible and powerful than the old format, and the two formats are not compatible.
2.) In order to enable in-app purchase within the app, I had to create a different type of App ID that wasn't compatible with the old Property Evaluator app.
3.) Version 3 requires iPhone OS 3 or higher, while version 2.5 works with iPhone OS 2 and higher. I wanted to keep the older version available for people who haven't upgraded their iPhone OS to version 3 yet.
I’m really excited about this release, since it builds a solid foundation for many more great new features that I have planned.
The next project that I’m working on is creating versions of Property Evaluator for the iPad! The extra screen space is going to allow some really nice enhancements to the user interface!
New iPhone Apps Coming Soon!
February 08, 2010 Filed in: Property Evaluator
Over the last year, I have been working on a complete rewrite of Property Evaluator for the iPhone. Version 3 will allow you to create custom income and expense categories, send PDF files directly from the iPhone, and change the default values of any of the inputs.
I’ll also be releasing a new app designed specifically for investors that are flipping properties. Keep an eye on RealEstateTools.com over the next month for more details.
I’ll also be releasing a new app designed specifically for investors that are flipping properties. Keep an eye on RealEstateTools.com over the next month for more details.