Hi Guys
(First post!)
I was wondering which software program you all use to analyse your property investments and would be grateful for any tips.
The software packages that I have seen (although not yet tried) are:
– Property Investment Analysis
– Property Owners System POSH
– Property Manager ProTo those that have used any of these, what did you think? What were their strengths and weaknesses.
Are there any others out there that I should consider? Do any of these generate the reports which the banks want to see? Which – if any – do the banks consider as reliable, and sufficient for their purposes?
As I prefer to see and understand the detail, I would really like to see an Excel spreadsheet that has all the bells and whistles – does anyone know if such a thing exists or do I have to do it the long way and make it myself?
Grateful for your thoughts and recommendations.
Many thanks
TwoBob
(Apologies if this is not in the right forum)… just my 2 cents worth!
I had purchased PIA, used it a few times and then it just sat there. The other two list are management type programs, aren’t they? I have used a few, including the Otter one which is good and its free:
http://www.otter-software.com.au/Software/PropertyTracker.htmlBut in the end, i just use excel mainly.
Terryw
Discover Home Loans
Mortgage Broker
North Sydney
Click below to email meTerryw | Structuring Lawyers Pty Ltd / Loan Structuring Pty Ltd
http://www.Structuring.com.au
Email MeLawyer, Mortgage Broker and Tax Advisor (Sydney based but advising Aust wide) http://www.Structuring.com.au
Hi Twobob,
I have used PIA but found the projections beyond the first couple of years a little meaningless as they are straight line projections based on annualised rates of growth etc.
I have another (copyrighted and not commercially available) program which projects cashflows (after tax) in the first two years – I find this more than sufficient for my purposes.
Like Terry I use a simple excel spreadsheet as a book-keeping tool. This keeps things summarised for my accountant at the end of the financial year.
Of critical importance to a lender is the amount of security you hold and your capacity to service the debt levels – in essence they only want to know that their money is safe – they are not generally worried about the deal you are doing.
To do this a lender will get valuations done on any related assets, check your income through tax returns (if self employed) or payslips (if employee), get a rental appraisal done and check your account status.
Derek
[email protected]Property Investment Support Available.
Try The Investment Detective from this website. It is a great tool and it is not costly!
_____________________________________________
The poster formally known as The Mortgage Adviser
When I grow up, I want to be a Storm Trooper!
personally I would save the money and use excel.If you dont know how to use it just ask another property investor who would probably give you a copy of their own spreadsheet.
then put the money saved towards a deposit.
http://www.megainvestments.com.auExtensive list of ‘Off The Plan’ property available for sale in Perth.
John – 0419 198 856
I’ve used PIA for the past 5 years, personally and for business. The program is okay but there are probably better out there these days.
W: pfsfinance.com.au
E:[email protected]
E:[email protected]Development Finance Specialist
Thanks all for your comments. So far, it looks as though most investors prefer to go the route of excel instead of a software package.
As I prefer to see the detail and the calculations, I’d probably be more comfortable with an excel spreadsheet – but for the life of me, I can’t find any decent ones on the web!!!
If anyone has a decent excel spreadsheet with a few bells and whistles – I’d be very very grateful for a copy! (Please PM me!).
Thanks again
TwoBob
… just my 2 cents worth!
Hi TwoBob
Of course I’m biased, but Investment Detective might be a pleasent surprise, I too started out writing a spread sheet but it couldn’t do what I wanted, so I started to write Investment Detective.
A trial will be available very soon, so you can “try before you buy” keep an eye on the Investment Detective forum https://www.propertyinvesting.com/forum/forum/30.html
Investment Detective is property investment software that has 2 roles,
1. To help evaluate a property’s profitability before purchase. Bottom line, is it going to make money for you? Compare several properties at once and pick the best performer.
2. To keep track of each property’s performance once you purchase. Enter the budget at the begining of each year and enter you’re actual figures at the end of the year. Did it make the profit and capital gain you budgeted?
It allows you to enter all the financial information about a property and it will calculate cashflow, ROI, profitability, equity and finance figures plus lots more.
The figures can also be shown as weekly, fortnightly, monthly etc.
Investment Detective is a powerful calculator, so you can enter any figures and it will work, in any state or country. It won’t calculate what a property is worth for you, you have to do that research yourself.
What it will do is, if you enter in your budget that you expected your property to increase in cg by $10,000 and at the end of the year the property cg was different, up or down, you have the opportunity then to evaluate that properties performance. At this point you can start asking questions about the reasons for the difference.
Just because the property was profitable, from a cashflow point of view, doesn’t mean you should ignore the cg performance.
You can enter property costs, detailed closing costs, detailed ongoing costs and property income (rent and other income eg. tax rebate as other income, you need to see your accountant for this figure).
Also, each element of property costs and closing costs can individually be allocated to either loan or equity finance options or cash, this allows Investment Detective to calculate and allocate the finance repayments correctly to the ongoing costs. Finance repayments can also be entered manually eg. if you want to make extra repayments.
Amongst the many figures produced is the “net cash flow”.
You can also enter the expected occupancy and the results will be displayed for that occupancy as well as 52 weeks, side by side.
Philip Batey
JATPAC DesignsAuthor of Investment Detective
Looking forward to the Investment Detective! Can you give me estimates on when it is expected to be released (within the next month, 3 months, 6 months) and how much it might cost (<$100, $100 – $200, $200 – $300, $300 – $400, $400+)?
And thanks again to everyone for their helpful posts.
Cheers . . . TwoBob
… just my 2 cents worth!
Hi TwoBob
It will be released in about 2 weeks, and under $100.
Philip Batey
JATPAC DesignsAuthor of Investment Detective
Hi Phil
common mate. I heard about this from Steve at the seminar on 5 December and it was imminent then. and I can’t wait to get a copy. Is there a demo that I can view earlyJules
JULES1
Email MeJules
The christmas period is not a good time to be releasing anything, and the logistics of doing the marketing and disk production just slowed down. Having said that, the seminar on the 12th Dec in sydney was where we first showed it off in its beta state and took pre orders, those users have version 1.0 of the software and have not reported any errors, with only a few install hiccups.
The release will be very soon, everything is just about ready, and a trial will be available for download very soon.
It wont be long now [curtain]
Philip Batey
JATPAC DesignsAuthor of Investment Detective
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