Commercial Investment Real Estate is the magazine of the CCIM Institute, the leading provider of commercial real estate education. CIRE covers market trends, current developments, and business strategies within the commercial real estate field.
Issue link: http://cire.epubxp.com/i/64804
with Catalyst Mobile CIE. Catalyst sub- scribers can log in to update their listing catalogs, and anyone can search listings and fi lter by property type, price, size, and more. To access the app, users point their mobile device to http://mobilecie.com. Adding a shortcut to that website to a mobile device's home screen creates an app-like experience, even though users are actually browsing a mobile-optimized website. T is approach to creating an app, where users go to mobile websites instead of an app, allows compa- nies like Catylist to create platform-agnostic "apps." As new technologies such as HTML 5 continue to evolve, some in the tech indus- try expect such mobile websites to eventually replace apps. Financial Help Multipurpose apps such as CoStarGo can run fi nancial calculations and pull demo- graphic data, but for more-detailed infor- mation some tablet users rely on stand-alone apps. Although not designed specifi cally for commercial real estate, these apps do help with core fi nancial and demographic com- mercial real estate functions. 10bii Financial Calculator Devices:Android, iPad, iPhone iTunes rating:★★★★★ Android rating:★★★★★ Price: $5.99 Convenience through consolidation is one reason why tablets have become so popular in recent years. Productivity apps such as Evernote and Dropbox allow users to carry one tablet instead of stacks of paper. Like- wise, e-reader apps such as Kindle allow users to read multiple books on one device. Consolidation is also why Kenyth Jerrell Cass, CCIM, owner of Town & Country Real Estate in Clovis, N.M., downloaded the 10bii Financial Calculator to his Android smart- phone. "T e main reason to have it is that you don't have to carry around another calcula- tor in the fi eld," Cass says. "I always have my phone with me." 38 May | June | 2012 The app's layout is nearly identical to the HP 10BII, which students are trained on in CCIM courses. "Compared to other calculator apps, it's the most familiar and does the calculations that are nec- essary for our profession," Cass says. "It has performed fl awlessly." powerOne Financial Calculator — Pro Edition Devices: iPad, iPhone iTunes rating:★★★★★ Price: $4.99 Donato Mucciacciaro, agent at Kurz & Hebert Commercial Real Estate in Baton Rouge, La., prefers the powerOne Financial Calculator app. "It's easier to use, has a bet- ter interface, simplifi es calculations, and provides more input fi elds," he says. Mucciacciaro says the powerOne app is especially useful when structuring lease purchases. "These deals can get pretty complicated," he explains. Being able to plug in diff erent down payment amounts, interest rates, and payment schedules gives us a quick and easy way to present our clients with information for decision making." Demographic Focus TAS Mobile Devices: iPad iTunes rating: n/a Price: free download, premium subscription required to access all features Business Analyst Online Devices: iPad, iPhone iTunes rating:★★★★★ Price: free download, premium subscription required to access all features Sitewise Devices: iPad, iPhone, Android, BlackBerry iTunes rating:★★★★ Android rating:★★★★★ Price: $0.99 Jason Wilcox, CCIM, of Real Estate Invest- ment Services in Seattle, uses three apps specifically designed for demographic reporting: TAS Mobile, Business Analyst Online, and Sitewise. TAS and BAO, an ESRI app, off er free basic data including population, age, and spending patterns. Subscribers to their Web-based products get full access to more- detailed reports. "I use the free version of BAO and pay for a TAS subscription," Wil- cox says. "T e free version of TAS provides most of the data that you might need out in the fi eld, but the paid subscription is a lot more robust." Sitewise was developed specifi cally for mobile devices and costs 99 cents to down- load. For an additional fee, users have access to premium data. Wilcox toggles between the three, using each app's strengths for different clients or at diff erent points in the sales cycle. For example, "If I'm working with a retail guy and we're taking a fi rst look at a neighbor- hood, I'll use TAS Mobile to show him com- peting franchises," Wilcox says. With retail and multifamily clients, he also uses Sitewise for demographic reports or drive-time and circle study areas. "Site- wise has a really robust demographic data- base," Wilcox says. "During a property tour with an apartment investor, I used it to compare the neighborhood with another location under consideration. We ended up picking the property based on the data we found." Wilcox likes to have the data at his fi ngertips. But further along the sales cycle when more complicated calculations are required, he turns to desktop analytical soſt ware to crunch numbers. "I still do most of my work with STDB in the offi ce for detailed site and market analysis," he says. T e supporting role apps play for Wilcox is typical. Just as tablets haven't replaced laptops, apps haven't replaced traditional software. But apps can provide enough information at the right time to keep a deal moving forward. Dennis LaMantia is interactive marketing man- ager at the CCIM Institute. Commercial Investment Real Estate