Bigger Pockets is a very valuable resource for anybody looking to get into real estate investing. It's actually because of them that I got into real estate investing and their books and community guided me through finding, rehabbing, and managing my first duplex property (which I was househacking)!
Here are a few categories to help you compare the two of us.
***FULL DISCLOSURE: I actually have a paid account with Bigger Pockets. Their forums, webinars, etc. are all golden.
Rental Data
Recently, Bigger Pockets released a feature to help you get rental data. You type in an address, # of beds, baths, sqft, and it gives you a rental range.
Housefolios automatically gathers data from a number of places for rent. You type in the address and we'll see what different people say it can rent for. We get our rental data from a number of sources including:
-
Zillow
-
Rentometer
-
Nationwide studies/researches that we've aggregated and purchased
-
Past history
-
etc.
We show all the results so that you have more data points to compare.
ARV Data
Bigger Pockets does not give you an ARV estimate at this time.
Housefolios again gathers ARV estimates from several sources all with their own proprietary algorithms.
Property Taxes
Bigger Pockets does not give you property tax data.
Housefolios again gathers property tax info from several sources.
Comps
Bigger Pockets recently introduced a rental estimate (previously mentioned) and with that, they have a list of rental comps.
Housefolios pulls sold comps for you to review, adjust, or delete. You can also add your own comps.
CalculationsBigger Pockets and Housefolios perform a lot of the same calculations right now. We'll soon have all the same calculations. BUT THE NEXT SECTION IS WHERE THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE LIES
How many properties can you analyze in an hour?
In this test, we wanted to find out, how many properties can I analyze in an hour? We had a list of 1,000 properties we took from the MLS. We wanted to see which of those would be good flips, and which would be good rentals.
For the test, we would fill out the following calculators on Bigger Pockets for as many properties as possible:
-
Rental Property
-
Fix & Flip
-
Wholesaling
-
Mortgage Payment
-
70% Rule
Another team member would input the same properties in Housefolios.
The Outcome?
Bigger Pockets - A large portion of the hour was spent finding data for each property. After finding the data, I had to manually input the results into each of their calculators. In all, I managed to fully analyze 2.9 properties in 1 hour using Bigger Pockets.
Housefolios - Since Housefolios gathers the data for you automatically, the spreadsheet was simply imported into the software.
When a property is imported, the following happens:
-
Data is automatically gathered for each property (rent, ARV, taxes, etc.)
-
Calculations are then run to help you determine your strategy for a property.
With Housefolios, all 1,000 properties were automatically analyzed in 34 minutes. That means that in 1 hour, Housefolios could analyze 1,764.7 properties (maybe more if this test wasn't done from home on my slow internet connection during Covid!)
Summary
As I said in the beginning. I love Bigger Pockets, their educational resources are unmatched. But when it comes to analyzing properties...Housefolios can do in seconds what would take you hours on other platforms. It finds the data and runs the numbers for you.
