Your name: Deb Agliano (team leader, aka DebOnTheWeb)
Name of product: T-reX Global partner program, including evaluations of Simplify’em and Depreciate’em
1. Ease. Is it easy to use for real estate professionals? For real estate consumers? How steep is the learning curve?
Both Simplify’em and Depreciate’em are very easy to use. I was able to immediately use both programs.
–Strengths (250 words or less):
The software is easy to use. When you’re using either software, each line item has a tip you can access by hovering your mouse on the question mark after the item.
Simplify’em lets you track income and expenses for investment properties. The software suggests expense categories you might not have thought of and you can easily add additional line items. It is also easy to set up recurring amounts to reduce the amount of data entry you need to do.
Depreciate’em helps you do asset separation on an investment property so you can have a greater initial tax savings versus doing straight line depreciation. The program takes you step by step through your closing costs and the property’s assets to help you separate out those assets with a shorter life span.
As an agent, you can sign up for the partner program. This way your information is co-branded on the programs. This takes only a minute and is also extremely easy to do
–Weaknesses (250 words or less):
I would prefer putting in a yearly amount for taxes and insurance and not have to break the figures down monthly
–Numeric rating, from zero to 100 (zero is the worst and 100 is the best):
90
–Explanation for rating (250 words or less):
Signing up for the partner program as well as using both tools are very easy. There are tips for each step you take as well as a Help section.
2. Value. Is it helpful and useful for real estate professionals? For their clients/customers/consumers? Cost vs. benefits: Is it worth the cost?
Yes, these applications are helpful for both agents and real estate investors. Since they are free, they are certainly worth the cost!
–Strengths (250 words or less):
If you are working with investors, I can’t see why an agent wouldn’t want to offer these tools on their website. There’s no cost to agents to set up a partner account which co-brands the programs with your information. Once you set up your partner account, you can download a customized flier to send to investors. Clients can use the applications for free for up to 4 units, too. The monthly fees to track more than 4 units are reasonable. The system can even be set up to send out automated rent reminders and can print late notices, too.
–Weaknesses (250 words or less):
The agent information is very small, but there’s no charge, so it’s hard to complain about that!
–Numeric rating, from zero to 100 (zero is the worst and 100 is the best):
94
–Explanation for rating (250 words or less):
Many sites offer something for free to hook you, but you have to pay to get real value. This site offers quite a lot for both agents and investors and only asks for payment when someone wants to track 5 units or more.
3. Power. Would real estate professionals and consumers be likely to use this often? Can it replace existing tools/methods? How much information and how many features does it put at the user’s fingertips? Does it have the power to change the industry? Can real estate professionals and consumers use this on the go? Is it innovative and cutting edge? Is it scalable (can be used by individuals and entire offices/companies)? Does it have advanced features for tech-savvy users? Does it integrate with other products?
A real estate agent who works with investors and those investors themselves will be likely to use these tools often.
–Strengths (250 words or less):
As a real estate agent, you can set up a partner account which puts your information at the bottom of each page. You can then email your co-branded link to the software to investors, post it on your website, or if you understand html code, you can put the widget directly into your website to give your website visitors access to this software. You can also send your clients a free monthly email newsletter. There’s a free webinar every Friday to teach agents how to market these tools to investors.
I tried a test. I put the widget on my website and wrote about the free tools on Twitter – within half an hour, an investor had signed up through my website to use the applications.
Your investors can attach scanned documents to the records, print out reports, export the results to Excel and even generate Schedule E for their taxes.
–Weaknesses (250 words or less):
The agent photo and information is very small at the bottom of the page.
–Numeric rating, from zero to 100 (zero is the worst and 100 is the best):
92
–Explanation for rating (250 words or less):
Except for the fact that I would like to see the agent information larger on the co-branded site, it’s hard to find any fault with these tools that do exactly what they promise.
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