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Valcre seems pretty slick for sure. They caught my attention when they reduced their prices. Still pretty expensive though - for me anyway. If they could cut that price in half, then we'd be talking.
I agree, trying to look at it as an investment in time I don't have to spend setting up the software. I tried realquantum previously and liked some of the things they were doing but it wasn't flexible enough and I couldnt customize it the way I needed. What changes have they made recently? The report builder server situation sounds like a non-starter.
I think Valcre seems like a real option and I am sure it will eventually make a good investment. It's the initial adoption phase that gets me worried. Real Quantum has made a few shifts toward more flexibility, but the ones that matter to me the most are still in production. The two biggest I am looking for are: export to Word instead of to PDF only, and a new text editor with tokens to be able to bring field values from the rest of the database into the various text editors. I am told these things should be in play sometime in 2021. There are a number of other things it seems that they are working on and I still have a long list of suggestions.
Yeah, that was my biggest issue with Real quantum, having to manually enter data in the narrative that is in the database and not being able to modify or create my own tables. Not a fan of the merging either, but have worked to make my word doc where everything from the web and excel dumps into it and I don't have to add or change narrative, just some formatting. One of my concerns with valcre is being able to do the same thing. I'm not aware of a way to tag the word doc like datappraise with pictures for deeds, plats, tax maps, etc, so they have to be manually copied into the word file. That said, valcre does so much data analysis quickly and easily that I would have to program myself in datappraise. It also can send charts and graphs in excel to word which datappraise cannot.
Assuming a few months in, what are your thoughts on Valcre now?
It's a great program and does lots of complex stuff quickly. The templates are great, support is responsive, and has some cool integrations. I really liked it but decided against switching from Datappraise for the time being for a few reasons. First, I sent them my current database and after 2 months it was still not imported into Valcre. They have a cool mobile app, but right now the pictures you take in the field do not flow through to the report. They are saved in the web database but you still have to manually place them in the report. The templates are really locked down too due to the complexity of the program. They have a tab dedicated to custom tables and charts that helps with some customization. They also allow you to connect more than one spreadsheet to the word doc, but as I understood it, you couldn't make a custom excel template for something like your regional analysis and have it connect to the word doc because the excel would need some Valcre specific programming. So while Valcre is awesome, I think it still has some rough edges that need to be rounded to make it really efficient. I was going to have to spend time setting it up to work the way I wanted and get used to a new workflow that I don't have time for. I also only do 25-40 commercial reports a year and most of my work is residential, especially in the current market. I couldn't justify the time and price difference, $289/month with AI discount vs $400 for the year for Datappraise. If I were doing 5+ commercials per month or more complex properties it would be worth it as it lets you do some detailed market analysis quickly and integrates with DCF programs.
I appreciate the detailed assessment. It's hard for me to grasp because so much of a commercial report is narrative and tailored to a specific subject property. Multiple parcels, buildings, etc. I think the learning curve and subsequent downtime is always a roadblock when looking into report writing programs. Kind of intimidating! I'm commercial only so sounds like it might be a fit, although I'm looking into Realquantum as well. Thanks again!
Glad to help and good luck with RQ. I tried it a couple of years ago too and like Valcre, really like the rate of development of both, but couldn't switch to RQ because it had very limited customization options then. Hopefully, they have added some more options for customization and would be interested to hear your take on it now.I appreciate the detailed assessment. It's hard for me to grasp because so much of a commercial report is narrative and tailored to a specific subject property. Multiple parcels, buildings, etc. I think the learning curve and subsequent downtime is always a roadblock when looking into report writing programs. Kind of intimidating! I'm commercial only so sounds like it might be a fit, although I'm looking into Realquantum as well. Thanks again!
