Rental Real Estate Software.

IRR (internal rate of return) is the method of determining an overall average annual compound rate of return on a series of unequal cash flows. It's the only way to determine how well a complex investment such as a rental really did over the life of the investment, because money flows in and out at random.

Net Present Value tells you what the property is worth today assuming your input, a discount rate, and all of the rental's annual cash flows from now, until you plan to sell it.

You can use the bottom-line IRR number to both estimate how an existing real-world rental has done, and to do "what-if" scenarios on properties you're thinking about investing in - to see if it's worth it.

It's also a great tool for real estate loan officers to determine the value of properties they're considering loaning money for.

It's the most transparent real estate calculator ever created. You can see every number, and can trace how each was calculated.

There are two rental real estate software programs

The single-property version just does one rental property at a time.

The multiple-property version has five single versions combined into one spreadsheet, for looking at up to five rental investment properties at the same time. It has a presentation page that averages the IRRs and NPVs of all inputted rental properties. IRR is also shown weighted using property market values.

Real Estate Investment Software Features

º It calculates both IRR and NPV more accurately than any other real estate calculator ever created.

Other rental real estate software claims to calculate IRR and NPV in every year. This is not possible, because it's only valid in the year the property is sold. IRR is just the way to calculate an investment's overall rate of return when there are multiple years with unequal cash flows. So any IRR number in years without the last cash flow (the pre-tax and after-tax sale) is meaningless. NPV is just the IRR calculation in reverse, so unless there's a sale, this is invalid too.

º It's by far the most comprehensive and accurate, because you have total control of most every number in every year.

º Because of all of the manual overrides, you can illustrate ANY method of financing: No loans at all, fixed-rate loans, variable-rate loans, interest-only loans, multiple loans, refinancing, paying additional principle payments, anything.

Let's face it; no software program can adequately account for even simple loan scenarios. Even if you have a fixed rate mortgage in the Real World, no software program will come up with the same numbers as what you're actually paying.

So what you do is use your own Real World amortization schedule, and then manually input the annual interest, principle, and end of year liability, and the program will use these numbers instead of the automatically calculated fixed-rate amortization schedule. This is the only way, and the only real estate software, that will let you use your own Real World numbers for maximum accuracy. Most all other real estate programs just have one input field for the monthly payment, and then it goes off and uses incorrect numbers throughout the program.

º It calculates all four depreciation categories independently of each other: 27.5 years for residential property, 39 years for commercial property, 5 years for appliances, and 15 years for land improvements.

It also keeps track of basis, accumulated basis, and then applies depreciation recapture in the year of sale (if it applies). It also shows the amount of depreciation recapture taxes (which can be set to any Real World number by tweaking the tax rate input field). No other real estate software even comes close to this level of accuracy.

º You can input new improvements, and it will automatically calculate the new basis and annual depreciation in all three categories (building, appliance, and land improvements).

With these columns, and the depreciation manual override column, you can input data to accurately reflect any Real World scenario when it comes to both basis and depreciation.

It also allows you to increase the value of the property manually. So if you spend $10,000 on a pool, you can increase the value of the property by more than $10,000. So you tell it how much improvements increase market value. This is the only real estate program that allows this level of control.

º You can also manually override rental income in every year for maximum control and accuracy. So if you are inputting a property you've had for years, you can use the actual past numbers in your records.

It accounts for an average vacancy and new tenant incentive rate (so you can account for this lowering estimated rental income).

º You have total control over the annual property market values in three ways: You can let it compound with a fixed interest rate. You can use a different growth rate in every year (which can even be negative), and you can also use the end of year market value manual overrides. You tell the program what the property is worth in every year, instead of being limited to what it thinks it is worth.

º You can use the income tax rate manual overrides to change the income tax rate to be whatever you want it to be in any year.

º It has input fields for 28 different expenses (two are labeled "Miscellaneous" and can be renamed by the user to be anything).

The same manual override methodology applies for all of the 28 different expense items - you can set a unique inflation rate for all 28 expenses, or you can ignore this detailed input and use a global default expense inflation rate (so you just have to input one number once).

If you know what the annual bottom lines are for all expenses, you can ignore all of this detailed input, and just input the annual bottom lines into the last manual override column.

No other real estate calculator even comes close to having this level of control. This is critical for calculating IRR and NPV (the current present value of a rental property). The expense input area also displays the percentage each expense is of total expenses for the first year (column C of the Input sheet).

º It's the most transparent real estate calculator ever created. You can see every number, and can trace how each was calculated.

Each major section (market values, income, loans, depreciation, etc.) is separated to help keep things straight. Then the flow of numbers on the calculation sheet allows you to verify all of the calculations and makes it easy to see how everything flows.

Most of the column headings tell you where the numbers are coming from, so you won't have to get out your calculator and spend lots of time verifying them. When you're able to see exactly how and why the program is calculating ALL of the numbers, you can get all of the information you need to see (like NOI).

No more being perplexed about how software comes up with the mysterious numbers. Most real estate calculator vendors choose to keep this all a big proprietary secret, but we take the opposite approach, and strive to let you know exactly where every number comes from.

º Real estate investing is complex, and for some, more of an art than a science. So you can also use the far left Presentation sheet to reference any numbers anywhere in the program, to create your own set of ratios, take notes, or anything you want, to get all of the information you like to see.

With one input, you can see 50 years of annual ratios per square feet, and what the annual market values would be using an assumed cap rate.

º Most other real estate tools (written in Excel) use complex macros to do the heavy lifting. This makes the program harder to use, vulnerable to bugs and viruses, not being compatible with newer computers, and other things that may make it just not work in the future.

We chose to make extremely complex formulas to do the heavy lifting. As a result, the program is more robust, will always work, and you can see how the numbers flow (left to right) so you can see where every number comes from in every year. This was one of the biggest complaints from users, so we decided to make everything as transparent as possible.

º You can use Excel's "Goal Seek" function to do hundreds of "what-if" scenarios that other real estate software can't do.

For example, if you wanted to see what the rental income of the property would have to be to equate to a 10% IRR, you'd just click on the IRR cell (CA7 of the Calculations sheet), go to Tools, Goal Seek, input 0.1 in the To value: field, then click on the bottom field, then go to the Input sheet cell A31 (Annual Rental Income, or on any cell in any year in the manual override column), then click OK. Excel will then automatically change the rental income until the overall property IRR equals 10%. So with just a few clicks, you can get the answer to most any scenario in seconds.

º It totals most every column up at the bottom, so for example, you can see the total amounts spent or saved on taxes over the life of the property.

º In years after the property is sold, the program stops displaying numbers. This makes it look cleaner, less cluttered, and allows your brain to focus better.

º It shows years of actual negative cash flows in red to make them stand out. See when a rental property will break even in seconds.

º In the sale year it shows the IRR, NPV, and all of the cash flows, both before capital gains taxes and depreciation recapture, and after.

º You can input the property's initial acquisition year as any year, not just the current year. You can go into the past or future as much as you want to.

º It's fast and easy to use assuming you know real estate. There's also a detailed directions page for rookies.

º It allows you to account for things that happen during transactions, either in cash, or they can be automatically added to the amounts borrowed (points, closing, fix, up, etc).

º It has a sheet that displays all years' numbers combined, so you can see everything in its appropriate year, with graphs.

º It uses conditional formatting on the input cells (so they turn from green to gray), to help ensure you don't miss inputting something.

º It does one refinancing automatically.

º For each manual override column, there is also a column to the right of it where you can make text notes to remind yourself why you used them in the first place. Inputting text into these columns don't affect the calculations, so you can write all of the notes you want to, so you'll remember what you did years in the future.

º It has 44 useful graphs that display all of the usual real estate financial ratios. They are all unprotected, so you can make more, or change them.

You can make any changes you want to the presentation sheet (add graphs, columns of data, etc.). The Multiple Rental Real Estate Investment software only has 33 charts because it used up all of Excel's memory.

º It has a 50-year window.

º It also has a "freebie" that no other real estate calculator offers - the most comprehensive and accurate "rent vs. buy" spreadsheet to calculate the difference between buying a home or renting.

º The client/planner name (for advisors doing work for clients), property name, address, and date automatically go to the presentation page.

º It gives the year number and the year all over to make it easy to follow.

º Financial planners can print the input sheet for use as a client data fact finder.

º It has input error messages so when you make mistakes, it tells you what you did wrong and how to fix it (most of the time).

º This real estate investment software's output also works great as input into comprehensive and/or integrated financial planning software, and of course, the world's best mini-financial planning program - RWR. This allows you to do the detailed calculations, and then just input the property's annual market values and net income into financial planning software.

Why aren't you taking advantage of this? Send e-mail and if you have an interesting reason, then you may get a freebie.

To download the demo, right click on the link below, and then choose "Save (Target) As..." to save to your hard drive. Then find and open with Excel. Answers to frequently asked demo questions and how to use demos.

Download the 675Kb one-property demo

Download the 2.8Mb five-property demo

The multiple property demo shows off the features better with text boxes and manual overrides. None of the demos function until you buy it.

Personal Finance Software Modules

Fully Integrated Financial Planning Software

Menu of Retirement Planning Software

Asset Allocation Overview with Our Historical Returns

Asset Allocation Calculator

Asset Allocation Models with Our Historical Returns

Monthly Updated Mutual Fund Picks

Financial Tools

Personal Budget Software

Financial Planning Fact Finders

Investment Policy Statement Software

Bond Calculators

Investment Software for Comparing 23 Methods of Investing

Buy Term Life Insurance and Invest the Difference in Mutual Funds vs. Whole Life

Life Insurance Calculator

Net Worth Calculator

Life Insurance Calculator

College Savings Calculator

Money eBook

Financial Planning Seminar

Financial Planning Marketing

Variable Annuity Tutorial and Optimizer

Services

Fee-only Consulting for Consumers, Investors, and Financial Planners

Building Custom Investment Benchmark Portfolios

Financial Planner Directory

How to Become Your Own RIA

Coaching for Financial Planners

Buy or Sell an Investment Management or Financial Planning Practice

Asset Allocation for 401(k) / 403(b) and Similar Retirement Plans

Real Estate Investing Software Prices	Unsupported	With E-mail Support	Phone and E-mail Support
One Property Rental Real Estate Tools	$29	$39	$49
Five-Property Rental Real Estate Tools	$38	$48	$58