Compared to traditional ways of tracking and managing real estate portfolios, commercial real estate software is far superior, especially if you’re still using Excel. However, just like with any other program, it won’t give you the results you need on its own.
In other words, you need the right software and know how to use it to track the five crucial types of data that we will cover below. The firts step is to add relevant information into your CRE software so that you can make the most of it.
Before we do that, let’s first go over the basics of commercial real estate software.
What is CRE software and what types are out there?
CRE software can be any solution on the web, in the cloud, or on-premise that can give you valuable insights and help you improve your commercial real estate business. CRE software is a wide term and can be used to describe a variety of tools.
Not all the CRE software is designed for the same purpose. Here are some general types that you should know:
- Benchmarking CRE software
- CRE for market research
- Portfolio management CRE software
- Valuation software
- Investment software
- CRM commercial real estate software
- Marketing CRM software
Regardless of which type of CRM you’re using and for what goal, here’s the information that you should be focused on using and storing.
1. Critical date management
The majority of commercial real estate software today has a feature that allows you to manage critical dates. With this feature, you can easily handle things like CAM reconciliation dates, notifications about options, managing leases, and so on.
Even though you could add this to your calendar chances are that you have many other tasks that you have to prioritize each day. You could easily overlook an important date in your busy schedule. By adding this information to your CRE software you will stay on top of all major events.
2. Market data
Some commercial real estate tools are only focused on your real estate portfolio. However, there are solutions that also let you integrate relevant market data. Having insights into your target market can always help you make better decisions with your portfolio and find new opportunities.
You can benchmark your CRE against the market and your competition. This will allow you to discover properties that are currently below market or those that are too expensive compared to similar offers on the market. This will allow you to negotiate more strategically for relocations, locations closures, and find better deals with landlords.
3. Utilizing performance data
When it comes to commercial real estate performance data is something that you can’t collect that easily. There are a lot of factors that you need to consider and take into account when calculating performance. Luckily, CRE software has all the features to collect and use performance data.
You can easily add all of the sales data and benchmark it to see what your profits are per square foot, or compare revenue to some other spaces. You can see what kind of space brings you the most money and what kind of investments you can make in the future.
4. Add adjustments and expenses
Adding rent adjustments and real estate expenses into the software can let you play for your cash flow more accurately. It’s an easy way to calculate CAM expenditures and monthly rent so that you can prepare in advance for any potential increases and adjust budgets.
This also makes it easy to benchmark different sites. You can investigate which one is more expensive and why. It’s also convenient for analyzing energy consumption, figuring out cost-saving strategies, and meeting sustainability goals.
5. Organizing and structuring site data
CRE software is a perfect solution for keeping all your portfolio information in a centralized fashion while having easy acces. If you have a larger portfolio sometimes it can be difficult to track how much space you have in total and how much of it is actually available.
Having this information at your fingertips is essential. You can include leases and any other information into your system as well, so that whenever you have a potential client or partner it’s easy to get relevant information.
Conclusion
Focusing on these five crucial types of data will help you stay one step ahead of everyone else in the CRM game. Of course, CRM software is definitely a worthwhile investment that will allow you to track many things at once and have the information you need to make smart decisions.
Take the time to consider your needs and options available so that you can further optimize your portfolio and find valuable opportunities.
Interesting Related Article: “Why Real Estate CRM and Real Estate Software are Proven and in Demand Today“