You’ve probably heard that 90% of all millionaires become so through owning real estate. While getting rich is a great goal to have, for many people the problem is knowing how to get there. Real estate investor websites offer so much information for free that it’s almost too good to be true.
Types of Real Estate Investor Websites
There are three general types of real estate investor websites:
- Educational websites help you learn from the successes and mistakes other investors have made so that you can avoid problems and recognize potential opportunities before the competition does.
- Community websites are a great way to network with fellow real estate investors from around the country and even the world because the more points of view you hear and see the better investor you can be.
- Listing websites are an ideal resource for remote rental property investors to research opportunities in real estate markets where home prices are still relatively affordable and potential returns are higher.
20 Best Real Estate Investor Websites
After extensive research, we’ve put together a list of the 20 best platforms for real estate investors to check out this year, for education, communities, and listing resources:
1. Stessa
Stessa provides single-family and multifamily real estate investors with a free cloud-based software system to make investment property finances simple. Investors can use smart money management to maximize profits, automate income and expense tracking, and generate financial performance reports on a property and portfolio level.
Visit Stessa
2. Roofstock
Roofstock is the only online marketplace that allows investors to buy turnkey single-family homes and small multifamily rental property with tenants already in place. The company has helped real estate investors complete more than $2 billion in single-family rental transactions in less than four years. Buyers and sellers leverage the power of the Roofstock Marketplace to invest in the $4 trillion single-family rental market for strong and stable cash flows through every economic cycle.
Visit Roofstock
3. BiggerPockets
BiggerPockets is the website where both beginning and seasoned real estate investors go to rub shoulders, network, and learn from fellow rental property investors. This real estate investor website and popular forum is home to more than 2 million members and provides tips on every real estate topic imaginable, including finding joint venture partners, deal-making, financing, and making the best real estate investment decisions possible.
Visit BiggerPockets
4. SparkRental
SparkRental shows investors how to build rental income, then automate it, to eventually achieve financial independence through real estate. The website offers landlord software to screen tenants and collect rent online, calculators for finding rental cash flow and depreciation, interactive maps showing the best cities for real estate investing, and a rental income blog for the passive income obsessed.
Visit SparkRental
5. Apartments.com
Formerly known as Landlordology, Apartments.com provides real estate investors with a collection of articles, videos, and state legal regulations to make owning and managing rental property easier and more profitable. The company also works with Cozy to help real estate investors get vacant property rented fast, conduct tenant screening, and collect rent payments online.
Visit Apartments.com
6. Craigslist
While this website is often thought of as a go-to place for pretty much anything except real estate, Craigslist can be a surprisingly good resource for real estate investors. This classified advertisement website has sections devoted to real estate in most cities in the U.S. and can be a great way to research rent comparables and find motivated FSBOs looking to sell their home fast.
Visit Craigslist
7. One Rental at a Time
While this is technically a YouTube channel by author Michael Zuber, One Rental at a Time is a fantastic resource for both new and experienced real estate investors. Michael’s daily videos cover a wide array of topics including daily interviews with multi-millionaire real estate investors.
Visit One Rental at a Time
8. Deal Machine
As the name suggests, Deal Machine makes it easy for investors to do two things: Send out mail solicitations to specific property owners (such as preforeclosure or out-of-state owners), and track down hard-to-find property owner information including mailing and email addresses, and phone numbers.
Visit Deal Machine
9. FSBO.com
Real estate investors looking for motivated sellers use FSBO.com to find for sale by owner properties who prefer to sell their own home instead of using a real estate agent. The website also has more than 1.4 million foreclosure, preforeclosure, bankruptcy, and tax lien listings.
Visit FSBO.com
10. ActiveRain
ActiveRain is the largest and most active professional social network in the real estate industry, with more than 300,000 members. Knowledge is power, with this real estate investor website hosting more than 4 million blog posts on everything that’s related to real estate.
Visit ActiveRain
11. HousingWire
HousingWire is known as the most influential source of news and information in the U.S. housing and mortgage markets. The website offers a wide range of email newsletters to fit the specific needs of every real estate investor, including investments and real estate-specific updates.
Visit HousingWire
12. Mashvisor
Mashvisor is a real estate investor website designed to make investing in real estate easier and more efficient. The site helps both beginning and experienced real estate investors research the best markets for profitable investments, analyze occupancy and vacancy rates, find reliable data to project rental income and expenses, and find cheap properties for sale.
Visit Mashvisor
13. NeighborhoodScout
NeighborhoodScout is a website and online database of neighborhood analytics using patented methodologies to help investors build neighborhood profiles and target the best areas for investment. The website can significantly reduce the amount of time and effort spent searching for real estate by zeroing in on the locations that meet the specific criteria of individual rental property investors.
Visit NeighborhoodScout
14. RealtyTrac
RealtyTrac is a one-stop-shop for real estate investors looking for pre-foreclosure, foreclosure, auction, and bank-owned home listings. The site boasts more than 120 million foreclosed homes, homes for sale, and off-market property reports. Robust data to help make the right purchase decision includes stats and trends, financing recommendations, and resources for finding a local agent to help make the best deal possible.
Visit RealtyTrac
15. Auction.com
Real estate investors looking for residential bank-owned and foreclosure properties via online auctions and in-person auctions will find Auction.com the place to be and bid. The website has an extensive inventory of more than 30,000 properties, with supportive services dedicated to buyer success.
Visit Auction.com
16. Roofstock Academy
If you’d like to learn how to build $100,000 in passive income through real estate investing - and in today’s economy, who doesn’t? - then take a look at the Roofstock Academy. This real estate investor website offers a training program to help you become successful as a rental property investor by learning from the costly mistakes of others. Investors have access to an extensive library of on-demand, online, and interactive lectures, individual and group coaching, and a personalized investment playbook.
Visit Roofstock Academy
17. Trulia
Trulia is a destination location for real estate for-sale listings and rental properties. The site provides price trend information, housing data, and dozens of guides for buyers, sellers, and renters. The Trulia Blog and Research sections provide valuable free information to investors such as where to find the most affordable neighborhoods in the nation and the most affordable neighborhoods for teachers.
Visit Trulia
18. Zillow
Zillow is a leading real estate marketplace with millions of for-sale and rental listings. The site also provides valuable information to real estate investors such as current home value Zestimates and pricing trends, the Zillow Rental Manager to screen tenants and collect rent online, and Zillow Research including home values and forecasts, inventory, list and sale prices, and sales count and price cuts.
Visit Zillow
19. Realtor.com
Realtor.com is a marketplace for listings represented by licensed real estate agents who belong to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The site is used by real estate investors and their agents to find a comprehensive list of for-sale and for-rent properties in every market across the U.S. Realtor.com also offers a dashboard that allows owners to manage the property by tracking value over time, researching improvements, and searching for similar properties in the same neighborhood.
Visit Realtor.com
20. REtipster
Real estate investors using a passive investment strategy find that REtipster is the place to go for investor hacks and game-changing tools to revolutionize the business of investment real estate. Designed specifically for real estate investors, REtipster offers proven resources on blogs, podcasts, videos, and more. Recent posts include info on real estate syndication, how to invest with just $5,000, and where to find the best deals on rental property.
Visit REtipster
Wrapping Up
The amount of information available on real estate investor websites can be overwhelming. Some sites help investors to learn about the real estate business or collaborate with fellow investors. Others offer tools for analyzing the best markets and selecting properties for investment. Real estate investor websites like Roofstock have turnkey rental property for sale, while Stessa helps rental property investors to maximize profits with automated income and expense tracking and smart money management.