Updated October 25, 2026. Independent editorial; how we research.
Who this is for
The one analyst, or the principal doing the analysis, at a small investment firm buying multifamily and small commercial assets, screening a few deals a week.
Jobs the stack must cover
Underwriting model
Acquisition models your partners and lenders can audit.
Rent roll and T-12 extraction
Turning broker PDFs into clean spreadsheets fast.
Rent comps
Market rents to test the pro forma.
Ownership and property records
Owners, sales history and property details for screening and off-market outreach.
Lease and sale comps
Verified commercial comps for office, retail and industrial.
The stack at a glance
| Tier | Job | Tool | Monthly cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start with | Underwriting model | 
Adventures in CRE A.CRE model library | Free |
| Start with | Rent roll and T-12 extraction | 
CRE Data Extractor Pro | $20/mo |
| Start with | Rent comps | 
RentCast Pro, billed annually | $12/mo |
| Start with | Ownership and property records | 
PropertyShark Pro, billed annually | $50/mo |
| Add when | Rent comps | 
HelloData Standard, 1 user | $300/mo |
| Add when | Lease and sale comps | 
Compstak Enterprise | Pricing on request |
| Add when | Site and zoning screening | 
Plotzy Starter | $180/mo |
| Skip until | Underwriting model | 
Argus by Altus Group | Pricing on request |
| Skip until | Deal pipeline | 
Dealpath | Pricing on request |
| Skip until | Lease and sale comps | 
CoStar | Pricing on request |
| Lean total (Start with) | $82/mo | ||
| Fuller total (Start with + Add when) | $550/mo | ||
Start with
The essentials for day one. These make up the lean total.
Adventures in CRE A.CRE model library
Free acquisition models for multifamily, office, retail and industrial in Excel, the format partners and lenders expect.
Alternatives: TheAnalyst PRO ($699.99 per year or $89.99/mo plus setup); Property Metrics (web-based underwriting, pricing on request)
CRE Data Extractor Pro
Converts rent roll PDFs to spreadsheets, 200 pages a month. The free plan's 15 pages total is enough to test it on a real offering memorandum first.
Alternatives: Clik.ai (AI underwriting and extraction, pricing on request); Lobby CRE (AI deal screening, pricing on request)
RentCast Pro, billed annually
Residential rent estimates with 20 comps per search; enough to check a multifamily pro forma at screening stage.
Alternatives: Rentometer (rent comps by address; the vendor site blocks automated checks)
PropertyShark Pro, billed annually
Owners, sales history, property reports and list building, with deepest coverage in large metros.
Alternatives: Reonomy (owner and debt data, pricing on request)
Add when
Worth buying once the trigger applies. These, minus anything they replace, make up the fuller total.
HelloData Standard, 1 user
Add when you underwrite multifamily most weeks and need unit-level comps and concessions. Replaces RentCast in the fuller total.
Unit-level multifamily rent surveys, trends and exports, with 10 saved surveys per user.
Alternatives: RentCast (keep it for single-family and small-property checks)
Compstak Enterprise
Add when you buy office, industrial or retail and need verified lease comps for every deal.
Verified lease and sale comps by market. Firms that do not contribute comps to the free Exchange buy Enterprise access, which is priced by quote.
Alternatives: CoStar (the broadest comps database, pricing on request)
Plotzy Starter
Add when your firm buys land, ground-up or value-add sites where zoning decides whether the deal works.
Screen sites by zoning designation, lot size and use before you build a model, and pull owner contacts for off-market outreach. Two-level zoning on every parcel answers the first question an investment committee asks about a development site. Caveats: it is in beta at pre-launch pricing, owner contacts are metered (25 a month on Starter, 100 on Production at $300/mo), and it has no comps or debt data.
Alternatives: Zoneomics (code-level zoning answers and reports, web plans from $92/mo); Regrid (nationwide parcel data with a zoning add-on)
Skip until
Tools newcomers are often sold too early, and what has to be true before they pay off. Not included in either total.
Argus by Altus Group
ARGUS Enterprise matters when you buy multi-tenant office or retail with lease-by-lease cash flows and your lenders or partners expect it. For multifamily and simple net lease deals, Excel is standard. Pricing is tiered and quoted.
Dealpath
Pipeline software pays off when a team screens hundreds of deals a year. One analyst can track a pipeline in a spreadsheet or the firm's CRM.
CoStar
The broadest comps and analytics platform, sold by quote by market and seat. Worth it when your deal flow and asset types need it every day; until then, targeted comps sources cost less.
Monthly cost
Assumptions: 1 analyst seat; Annual billing where it is offered and cheaper; US prices before tax.
Not in the totals (no published monthly price): Compstak. Expect the real cost to be higher if you buy them.
Totals are rebuilt from each line's published price whenever the site is published, and exclude tax, payment processing, onboarding fees and hardware. How we built these stacks.
Frequently Asked Questions
What software does an acquisitions analyst at a small firm need?
Free Excel models such as the A.CRE library, a rent roll extractor (CRE Data Extractor Pro, $20/mo), rent comps (RentCast Pro, $12/mo billed annually) and owner records (PropertyShark Pro, $50/mo billed annually). That lean stack is $82 a month at published prices.
Do I need ARGUS to underwrite deals?
Only for multi-tenant office and retail where lenders and partners expect ARGUS cash flows. Multifamily and simple net lease deals are underwritten in Excel almost everywhere, and ARGUS pricing is quoted.
What does the fuller analyst stack add?
Unit-level multifamily comps (HelloData Standard, $300 per user per month) in place of RentCast, and verified commercial lease comps from CompStak Enterprise, which is priced by quote and not totaled, plus Plotzy Starter ($180/mo) for zoning-led site screening if your firm buys land or development sites. The published-price total is $550 a month.