A good investor portal is a key part of any real estate investment management software worth its salt.
Here’s a short guide outlining the key features commercial real estate firms should check when choosing an Investor Portal to work with.
What’s a real estate Investor Portal?
Before we dive into the different features and capabilities of investor portal software, let’s take a moment to define what is an investor portal exactly.
A real estate investor portal is a software or online platform that allows real estate investors to access information about their portfolios and new investment opportunities. They can also communicate through the portal with their GP, send out requests and messages, make new commitments, get reports, and more.
From the firm’s end, an investor portal is the most efficient way to manage investor relations and communicate with their LPs. That’s why and Investor Portal is an integral part of most firms’ tech stack.
So, when choosing an Investor Portal, what are the most important features and capabilities you should be looking for?
User-friendly interface
The Portal should be engaging, convenient, and easy to use. Investors should be able to know their way around and act from within the Portal with no hassle.
Equally important, the Portal should enable convenient subscription flows for offerings so investors do as little as possible on their end. For example, details can be imported into forms from existing contact information so that investors don’t have to re-enter the details.
In addition, investors should be able to sign all forms from within the Portal. No pesky emails, external platforms, or printed documents.
The Portal has to be optimized for mobile accessibility, as users access the Portal from their mobile devices.
Agora’s Investor Portal
Access to investment information
Investors should be able to view and download information about their investments, such as:
- Their real estate investment portfolio.
- Real-time performance metrics.
- Financial and tax reports, metrics, and historical documents.
You should be able to easily customize data visibility so that investors see only the information related to them.
Communication
GPs and LPs should be able to communicate effectively, and among other things:
- Send and receive documents.
- Sync their email account, so it can be used from within the Portal.
- Keep all conversations tracked and organized.
Customization
Commercial real estate firms should be able to customize their Portal so it aligns with their brand and represents a consistent image. A portal that looks and feels like a natural extension of the firm’s website conveys professionalism and promotes investor confidence.
Real estate firms should also be able to customize information, to include different metrics, graphs, images, and information for each investment.
Security and privacy
It goes without saying that sensitive financial information must be safeguarded by the most advanced security measures.
Look for the ISO/IEC 27001 information security certification, and ensure the portal login is secured by 2-step authentication.
Part of a holistic solution
A portal alone isn’t a sufficient solution to manage real estate investor relationships. To optimize your investor relationship, it has to be part of a holistic platform that also provides, among other things:
- a CRM to manage your investor relationships.
- Advanced data management.
- Tax reporting features.
- Bulk distribution tools.
Research reviews (not a feature, but important nevertheless)
Transferring your investment operations onto a new platform is a big decision. It should be based on knowledge of real user experience with the software, service, and support that go with it.
The best way to find out if the Portal delivers on its promise is through customer review websites like G2.
See how Agora’s Investor Portal compares
Agora’s real estate Investor Portal is beautifully engaging and fully customizable. It offers the most advanced features to streamline investment management operations and cut overhead.
The Portal is included as part of Agora’s Real Estate Investment Management Platform together with CRM, Document Center, Fundraising software, Tax Center, and more.
