Expense Comp Storage/Database

[rowens27]

I am wondering what others do to store and organize their expense comps.

Right now, I just pull the information from prior reports. But I would like to organize the information in one location and just search for the information there, instead of hunting through old reports.

 

[JAW]

Check out Realquantum
It puts all your comps (expense, sales, rent, etc.) in one place with subject property data (which can be used as a comp later.)

 

[Deleted member 126639]

I am wondering what others do to store and organize their expense comps.

Right now, I just pull the information from prior reports. But I would like to organize the information in one location and just search for the information there, instead of hunting through old reports.

There are several database/report writer options.

If it's just you and a few people, Access remains a viable option.

A large expense comp database allows for real statistical analyses. This is probably one of the few areas where this is possible. The GSEs are already doing this. While hyperinflation is not happening, having a firm grasp on operating expenses is more important now than ever.

Even for a NNN lease, this should be considered for non-credit tenants who may not be able to pay a CAM bill that went up 15%.

 

[Deleted member 126639]

Check out Realquantum
It puts all your comps (expense, sales, rent, etc.) in one place with subject property data (which can be used as a comp later.)

Is there a way to run a regression analysis against the expense comps you spend time entering in your database?

While I use a report writer, all the databases miss the mark and aren't really any better (as databases) than what you could have made in Access 1.0.

 

[rowens27]

There are several database/report writer options.

If it's just you and a few people, Access remains a viable option.

A large expense comp database allows for real statistical analyses. This is probably one of the few areas where this is possible. The GSEs are already doing this. While hyperinflation is not happening, having a firm grasp on operating expenses is more important now than ever.

Even for a NNN lease, this should be considered for non-credit tenants who may not be able to pay a CAM bill that went up 15%.

I am not looking for a report writer at this time. Just a database.

That being said, I am doing demos with a couple database/report writer options over the next 7-10 days. Depending on the pricing, maybe I will change my mind.

I have never used MS-Access before. In fact, I have never even opened it!

Is it difficult to learn/use? I am going to watch some videos on it, but I would be curious to know how you use it.

 

[Deleted member 126639]

I am not looking for a report writer at this time. Just a database.

That being said, I am doing demos with a couple database/report writer options over the next 7-10 days. Depending on the pricing, maybe I will change my mind.

I have never used MS-Access before. In fact, I have never even opened it!

Is it difficult to learn/use? I am going to watch some videos on it, but I would be curious to know how you use it.

MS Access is not at all hard to learn, or at least not any harder than using Excel to its fullest potential. It is a surprisingly powerful tool that got lost in Microsoft's transition to "the cloud". It's ridiculously easy to make a comp database, and I remain perplexed why solo appraisers don't use it.

Microsoft is pushing "Power Apps" as low code solutions, but I've found them much more difficult to use. They introduce SQL Server support a few years ago, but it's still not a viable "front end" in the truest sense of the word.

I actually have started using it again explicitly for operating expense data, as the major platforms - by necessity - are highly generic so they can work well enough nationally.

If you're running solo, Access is a great, free solution that can be ported to other platforms at relatively nominal cost if you get to that point. Most of the report writers are overkill for most solo practitioners, or are likely not very flexible for your market/asset class. Access remains the #1 database, but if you plan on partnering with enough people a $20,000 investment in a custom web app/Azure SQL database is possible, that is the better long-term solution.

If you've never done any office VBA programming, don't know how to use excel functions like lamda, xlookup, or unique, or the rather basic statistical analysis tools, I would only undertake this if you're willing to invest the time or are in your 20s. $300 for a complete report writer per month is nothing compared to spending one day a month learning how to program.

I guess the question is - what do you want to use a database for?

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Is it difficult to learn/use?

Not difficult, not as easy as they say - it is sort of a mini spreadsheet in my mind.
Since I use Word Perfect which has a mini-spreadsheet tool within the word processor, I tend to use it and Excel instead.

 

[Deleted member 126639]

Not difficult, not as easy as they say - it is sort of a mini spreadsheet in my mind.
Since I use Word Perfect which has a mini-spreadsheet tool within the word processor, I tend to use it and Excel instead.

Access is not a mini spreadsheet. It can store millions of records, well beyond what any spreadsheet can handle in terms of rows and columns.

It isn't something that most appraisers need, especially if someone just uses 4-6 comps with subjective adjustments. The primary benefit is if you're researching a lot of comps in a partnership/office situation and you need to maintain data integrity and consistency. The secondary benefit, even for someone solo or a small group, is regression analyses.

I wouldn't waste a lot of time learning it as Microsoft has pretty much deprecated it and is pushing everyone towards Power Apps, so far rather unsuccessfully. 10-30 years ago, many appraisers really missed the boat by not learning it however. But, as Wordperfect essentially has no advanced features remotely comparable to basic macros let alone visual basic, we can see many appraisers don't really use computers as anything more than glorified typewriters.

How is a "mini spreadsheet" better than graphing paper?

 

[RCA]

I am wondering what others do to store and organize their expense comps.

Right now, I just pull the information from prior reports. But I would like to organize the information in one location and just search for the information there, instead of hunting through old reports.

The best, the fastest, is SQLite. It has been around a very long time and is used heavily in industry due to it speed. The language is SQL.

DB Browser for SQLite

sqlitebrowser.org

SQLite Home Page

sqlite.org

Also, this is very easy to use in R, if you do statistics. I typically copy my Excel MLS files over to SQLite and then store the data as SQLite files.

 

[Stantheman]

I would suggest trying a few. I have used ACT and Access. I personally like ACT once it's set up. One problem people have with ACT is when they have over 5,000 contacts it starts to have issues. As an appraiser you won't have 5000 contacts.