New technology makes the job a little more visual. Mike Genstil, a former manager at Adobe, has developed online tools in the form of a finance calculator, to help investors and home buyers determine if a property would be a bargain for them, by calculating the monthly expenses that would be incurred with the property.

His new tool, called the eRealAnalyzer tool, can be found at their principal site, eRealInvestor.com, as well as being available at a number of sites such as Condo.com. Registration at their site is free and the cost to use more of the advanced tools are $9.95 a month or $59.95 a year.

Other sites, too, are catering to investors by offering tools to assess market conditions and weight property investment decisions.

Genstil feels that his invention will save time and provide great opportunities for many in the realty field. Home buyer/sellers and Realtors will be able to use the financial tools to see if the property is viable for them. Users will be asked if the property is for investment or live in purposes, and based on the answer different features will be provided. There is also a glossary and definitions of realty terms.

Once the users have moved deeper into the selection process, they are able to adjust the offering price, down payment, loan interest rate, property appreciation rate, taxes and maintenance cost. If the users are not sure of what to select for some of the options, there are also secondary tools to help estimate that based on pricing per square foot, normal taxes generated, etc. There are also charts to show projection of future price equity and pre/post-tax monthly payments.

Genstil feels that he is making his move at the best moment, "Everybody -- sellers, buyers and agents -- are thinking a lot more about numbers these days.", and his tools can allow them to better view "the full spectrum of the value the property could attain,".

Genstil´s company is also starting a partnership with Birdview technologies to use the tool with agent and broker listings. At the moment, Realtors and brokers can place their properties on display with the eRealInvestor site for free. For any who want to make bulk displays, they must contact the company. A button also allows any users to directly contact the sellers of any property listed on the site.