Recommended Tools & Resources
Just like carpenters use tools and resources to build houses, real estate investors use tools and resources to build their businesses. I created this page to share what I recommend in your real estate investing toolbox. Enjoy!
Some of the tools and resources below have affiliate links, which means my company will earn a small commission if you purchase their product, at no additional cost to you. (See full affiliate disclosure) However, many of the items I recommend don’t pay any commission to me. First and foremost, I chose these tools and resources for their potential usefulness, not whether they make me money. With any product, make sure it fits your needs or goals before spending any money.
Real Estate Investing Books
The Small & Mighty Real Estate Investor
Retire Early with Real Estate
For Your Real Estate Business
fUNDING YOUR real estate deals
Bryan Maddex is our go-to mortgage broker at Coach Carson. You may have heard him on the podcast in November or and May. With access to over 220 lender partners nationwide, Bryan brings a creative, tailored approach to financing rental properties—and he’s an excellent resource to have in your corner.
👉 See what Bryan can do for you
landlord insurance
Looking for landlord insurance that’s fast, affordable, and built for real estate investors? Steadily covers everything from fire and water damage to lawsuits and riots – whether it’s short-, mid-, or long-term rentals. It’s Coach-approved for a reason – protect your properties without the hassle!
👉 Get a fast quote from Steadily Insurance
finding real estate deals
DealMachine is a top-rated app that empowers real estate investors by offering access to off-market properties and valuable data for informed decision-making. You can use it to build lists, automate direct mail marketing, drive for dollars, get contact info of owners, organize your leads, and more. If I were starting or growing my rental business again, this would be the one tool I’d use to help me buy more deals.
👉 Start a free 7-day trial or get 45% off a one year subscription
Other Landlord Resources
BOOKKEEPING
Quickbooks is my favorite accounting software. It’s flexible and powerful, and it can handle just about any accounting function you need. You can use either the online/cloud-based version or the desktop version. I personally use the desktop version because it costs less and has the functions we like.
Landlord software
Avail.co is a fantastic, free (or low cost) rental property software for the DIY landlord. If you self-manage properties, this website can help you collect rent, market properties, get tenant applications, run credit and background checks, sign digital leases, manage maintenance, and much more.
LEAD GENERATION
Carrot helps real estate investors build high-performance lead generation websites and landing pages that stand out in your market.
Basic Landlord Software
Zillow offers a free landlord software that I’ve used to self-manage my personal rentals. It’s got the basics you need – like rent collection, tenant screening, and property marketing. And it’s super user-friendly for both you and your tenant.
Personal Finance
TRACK YOUR NET WORTH
Empower (formerly Personal Capital) is a free online software that helps you organize and track your net worth and all of your financial accounts. Before Empower I struggled to keep track of my accounts because they were spread out between multiple 401ks/IRAs, banks, real estate investments, and brokerage accounts. Spreadsheets helped, but they were tough to keep up to date. Now, at the click of a button, I have everything automatically up to date, presented in easy-to-understand charts and reports. While Empower is a free tool, they do make money by offering their own mutual funds and advising service – but you’re free to say “No” to those if you aren’t interested.
stocks & bonds investing
Vanguard is the brokerage I use and recommend for stocks and bonds investing and for non-real estate retirement accounts. Their index funds consistently have among the lowest fees of the mutual fund industry. In addition, their entire corporate ownership structure is built to serve investors first, and not to charge excessive fees.
student loans
Student Loan Planner is an amazing resource for those with large student debt balances. My friend Travis founded the website after helping his wife and her friends with their six-figure student loan balances. You can get free advice, refinancing options, or paid consulting depending on your needs.
Self-Directed 401K/IRA
self-directed iras
Real Estate Investment Using Self-Directed IRAs is a written guide that explains how to use your self-directed retirement account to invest in real estate or related assets like private mortgages and tax liens. The author is Dyches Boddiford, a 40+ year veteran in the business. Dyches has always been the teacher I trust most on this subject. There are MANY pitfalls with expensive consequences if you don’t follow the IRS rules for self-directed accounts. So, this is a must-have for your bookshelf if you are considering this type of retirement investing.
solo 401k
The Solo 401k: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to a Powerful Pension Plan is a written guide about the Solo 401k by Dyches Boddiford and Dorsie Boddiford. This type of account was designed for Americans entrepreneurs with no full-time employees other than the business owner(s) and their spouse(s). What makes it so powerful? Contributions to a Solo 401k can be 2x, 3x, 4x+ higher than limits for a normal IRA. There are no income restrictions for Roth component contributions. And the prohibited transaction penalties are also much kinder in the Solo 401k vs. the IRA.
Rules & Regulations
Rules & Regulations for self-directed IRA/401k accounts are summarized at Wikipedia.com. The article also contains links to some of the relevant laws and IRS publications if you are interested in digging further.
Property Analysis & Running the Numbers
How to Run The Numbers
Virtual/Paperless Office
paperless filing
Evernote is an online app that helps you categorize, remember, and organize everything. We use it as our paperless filing system for our business. You can read more details about our system in this article (see tool #6).
scanner
Fujitsu iX500 is a top-of-the-line scanner we use to scan all of the paper associated with our business. It’s FAST (40 pages per minute) and smooth, which amazed me after using other clumsy and slow scanners before this one. After scanning, we upload the files to our paperless filing system in Evernote.
Personal Productivity
organization
A Personal Planner is my organization tool of choice. Yes, it’s old school. But I have found that simplicity makes it less distracting and less prone to rabbit holes of unproductive behavior on a smart phone. I’ve written a few articles about how I use my planner, including:
The Collection Habit – How to Get Everything Off Your Mind
5 To-Do Lists That Keep Me Sane
The List of 10 – My Weekly System For Getting Priorities Done
A To-Think List – How to Consistently Stimulate Your Best Thinking
brainstorming
A BIG Sketch Pad is what I use for brainstorming, journaling, planning projects, and taking notes when I attend classes or listen to education online. Your brain power is enormous, and I have found small pieces of paper confine you to small thinking. So, this BIG sketch pad along with your favorite writing utensils do the trick!
annual review
The Annual Review is my ritual towards the end of each year. It’s a process that has helped me set and accomplish more goals than I could have ever imagined. It takes the big visions you have and breaks them into practical, achievable plans for the upcoming year.
book: Getting things Done
Getting Things Done by David Allen is a fantastic book that gave me many of my best productivity habits and systems. If you haven’t read it yet, it’s a must-have on your bookshelf!
book: How To Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci
How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci by Michael Gelb was a gift to me in college, and I have re-read it many times since. This book helped me become a more creative, well-rounded thinker and person. One exercise from the book, called “100 questions” is life-changing; I do it in my journal every 2-3 years.
heroic
I’m a big fan of Brian Johnson and his app called Heroic. It distills and helps you apply the best wisdom from 600 books he read about personal development, psychology, and living a good life. Brian also wrote an excellent book called “Arete” about his overall philosophy.
I am always looking to learn and grow!
If you have other tools or resources you’d like to recommend, please contact me. Thank you!