You may already know but Gina and I are huge fans of BiggerPockets. We talk about the site and link back to it quite a bit here on TWW and so we figured it’s about time to do an honest review of the Pro membership.
First and foremost, if you’re interested in any form of real estate investing then BiggerPockets is the place you want to be. However, before you jump right in and purchase a membership, we highly encourage you to read through this article to see if the cost if fully worth the benefits for you.
BiggerPockets & Self-Education
A couple years back, when we first decided that we wanted to dive into the world of real estate investing, we had no idea where to start. So naturally, we started to do some self-educating to find the strategy that aligned most with our goals.
We started by listening to every single episode of the BiggerPockets podcast. From there, we began watching the weekly webinars and reading through the online forums/articles. This education period gave us insight to all the different types of real estate investing strategies.
One of the most useful parts we found was listening to people’s stories on the podcasts and seeing people’s processes in the forums. Compiling this information basically gave us a step-by-step process on how to invest in real estate. By the way, all of this information was completely free. So don’t feel like you have to buy the membership quite yet.
Once we decided that we wanted our first investment property to be a househack we began directing all of our focus on that subject. We soon realized that the BiggerPockets pro membership would give us access to some amazing tools that would increase our odds of making a sound investment.
Membership Options
If your just starting out then I would recommend sticking with the free membership. With the free membership you have access to every episode of the BiggerPockets Podcast, full visibility of the public forums, access to live weekly webinars, and access to all of the directories. Once you soak in all that the free membership has to offer, then it is time to decide if you want a paid membership. BiggerPockets offers 3 types of paid memberships; the Plus Membership, the Pro Membership, and the Premium Membership.
BiggerPockets Plus Membership
The Plus membership is the lowest tier of the paid memberships. It costs $19 per month and gives you access to the property analysis calculators, BiggerPockets pro perks, private messaging capabilities, and marketplace listing capabilities.
However, with the Plus membership there are limitations. As you can see in the chart below you are only allowed to generate 5 reports with the property analysis calculators. You do not receive all of the pro perks and you are limited to only 3 posts per month on the marketplace listings.
BiggerPockets Pro Membership
If you decide you are ready for a paid membership, we highly urge you to consider the Pro membership. Yes, it’s more expensive than the Plus membership but the value you receive from the the Pro membership is definitely worth it.
The Pro membership offers a number of benefits but are favorite perks are:
- Full access of landlord forms
- Unlimited use of the property analysis calculators
- Access to the exclusive pro member forum
- Webinar replay
This membership is amazing if you are serious about real estate investing. The calculators will help you analyze deals before you make an offer. The landlord forms will allow you to easily transition into the landlord role. Access to the pro member forum will allow you to connect with like minded individuals and real estate professionals. Finally, the webinar replay will allow you to watch every webinar that’s ever been recorded and you will no longer have to watch them live.
The Pro membership provides you with information to further your self education and provides you with tools to crush your investments. In the picture below you can see all the benefits that the Pro membership offers.
BiggerPockets Premium Membership
The Premium membership is $99 per month and is currently only available for real estate agents, investment firms, and hard money lender companies. Since this membership isn’t available to individuals we are not going to cover it in depth. For more information on the premium membership click here, or check out the picture below.
Â
Property Analysis Calculators
The property analysis calculators are by far one of the best perks of a paid membership. I honestly believe that BiggerPockets could charge people just to use these calculators. BiggerPockets now offers 8 different calculators and they are:
- Fix & Flip
- BRRRR
- Wholesaling
- 70% Rule
- Rental Property
- Rehab Estimator
- Mortgage Payment
- Airbnb Calculator
These calculators are easy to use and will assist you in your investing decisions. One of my favorite things about these calculators is that you can print out a report of the property you analyzed. BiggerPockets creates a formatted report that looks super professional and presentable. You can then use this report to persuade potential investors or lenders. You can even use this report as a bargaining chip when making an offer to a seller.
For instance, if you found a great property but the report is telling you that the price is way too high. You can try to show the seller the report and walk them through all of the components that are telling you it is not valued at the amount the seller listed.
This may convince the seller that they are asking to much for the property and persuade them to drop the price, or accept lower offers.
Gina and I are huge fans of the calculators, in fact we even used the calculators to help us analyze our current house hack. One of the benefits of the Pro membership is that you can generate unlimited reports with the calculators. If you are serious about real estate investing then it would be good practice to analyze one property per day with the calculators. Even if you are not planning to buy anytime soon, this practice will allow you to get more familiar with the tool and will increase your knowledge of a specific market. This knowledge will help you recognize deals much faster which is key in real estate investing.
Landlord Forms
If you’ve invested in the Pro membership then the reality is you are serious about investing in real estate and will most likely become a landlord. BiggerPockets provides you with landlord forms for all 50 states. These forms include:
- Comprehensive residential lease
- Pet addendum
- Lease extension
- Rental Application
- Lease Guaranty
- Move in / Move out forms
- Lease amendment
- Lease addendum
It’s important to note that the landlord forms are only available for people who subscribe for an annual membership. That means you will not have access to these forms if you are paying month to month.
When Gina and I first subscribed for the Pro membership the landlord forms where not a feature. We were PUMPED when BiggerPockets announced that these would be included in the membership. These forms have made our time as landlords much easier. These forms are all adjusted for state specific laws, which makes investing out of state much easier. Contracts and paperwork should no longer scare you away from being a landlord!
Interested in house hacking? Check out our four part series that shows you how!
Webinar Replay
If you follow BiggerPockets then your probably already familiar with their weekly webinars. These webinars are geared towards specific topic and are great education tools. The only downside is you have to watch them live, unless you have the Pro membership.
The Pro membership allows you to replay any webinar as many times as you want, plus you can watch old webinars as well. If you know me then you know I’m huge on self education. In my opinion having unlimited access to these webinars is worth the membership alone.
To register for the next BiggerPockets webinar click here.
Advanced Member Search
This feature can be great for connecting with people in your local market or market of interest. Connecting with like minded individuals can lead to bigger and better deals. As Jim George once said “Choose your friends carefully. They are a reflection of you.”. If all your friends are successful real estate investors then the odds are you will also become a successful real estate investor.
The advanced member search feature can allow you to connect with people that will push you to the next level in real estate investing. Use this tool to create a strong circle.
Closing Thoughts
BiggerPockets is by far the number one go to site for all things real estate. The free membership provides you with so much information and is a great starting point to get your feet wet. In my personal opinion, if you decide to upgrade to a paid membership, the Pro membership is more worth it than the Plus. The Plus membership is too limiting for my taste and the Pro membership offers way more benefits.
Are you a BiggerPockets Pro member? Let us know in the comments đŸ™‚
For more great real estate reads check out these articles:
