October 2026 Update

A lot of you ask how Nimbus is going, and I appreciate it more than you know. It's hard to answer in the moment because I'm so deep in it, so here's the honest version.

It's going great, and it's going slow.

Real estate and technology are what I love, at work and outside it, and Nimbus is where they meet. It's my way of helping the everyday person who isn't in the weeds of their home: where the important documents are, what they mean for your bottom line, and everything in between.

Here's what we built this month:

Chene keeps an eye on the home you live in

Most of what costs a homeowner money happens quietly. The mortgage payment rises because the escrow account came up short. The county assesses the house above what it is worth. The insurance renews at a higher price before anyone reads the letter. Chene, the assistant inside Nimbus, now watches for these on the home you live in, not only on rentals.

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What Chene checks on your home:

• Mortgage insurance. Chene asks whether your payment includes it, and you answer right on the card. Chene also tells you when you can ask your lender to drop it. On an FHA loan, it works out when refinancing would end mortgage insurance for good.
• A higher payment. When your mortgage payment goes up, Chene notices and says how much of the change is escrow, the part of the payment that covers your property tax and insurance.
• Insurance renewal. A reminder 45 days before a policy renews, based on the policies you've already uploaded.
• Property tax. Chene flags a county assessment that's higher than the value Nimbus shows for your home, and asks whether you have a homestead exemption.
• Tax season. If you itemize, a reminder to find your lender's Form 1098.
• Equity, refinancing and HOA dues. Chene checks these alongside your loan, and gives you a heads-up two months before your home's next important date.

For a second home, or a home where you rent out a room or a unit, Chene compares this month's bills with the same month last year. For a former home you now rent out, it tells you when the window to sell it tax-free is closing. We explained how that window works in our post on selling a former home tax-free.

If you'd rather work out a payment jump yourself, try our new free mortgage payment calculator. Enter your payment before and after the change, and it splits the difference into principal and interest, your tax and insurance bills, and any catch-up for an escrow shortage.

Your home, first on the dashboard

If you own one home, the dashboard now opens on it. Its value shows as a range rather than one precise-looking number, and it refreshes once a month after Zillow and Redfin publish new figures. Next to it are your ZIP code and county numbers, including property tax. The "Paid down this year" line shows where its number comes from, and is marked "est." when it's an estimate. Yearly growth in value appears only when Nimbus knows what you paid. Without a purchase price, the card asks for one.

Rental figures stay out of the way until you add a rental. When you do, the investment numbers appear, and your rentals get one page of their own, with profit and loss as a tab. The value chart now sits on the dashboard, and the history charts mark major events along the line.

The market map, ZIP code by ZIP code

Wondering how your part of town compares before you sell, refinance or buy nearby? A county average blurs too much. The market map now colors every ZIP code at every zoom level, with the ZIP code printed on it. Zoom toward your home, choose ZIP Codes in the map controls, and the areas around you fill in, colored by median home value, homes sold, rent or rental vacancy.

Paper bills, straight from your phone

The property tax bill, the insurance declarations, the escrow statement: most of a home's paperwork still arrives on paper. Now you can photograph it. On a phone, Upload opens your camera, works with photos straight from an iPhone, and turns several photos of one document into a single PDF. If the document shows an address, Nimbus files it under the matching home for you.

Once they're uploaded, your bills fill in your home's details: HOA dues, property tax and insurance, other running costs, and the land value from the tax bill. You check every line before anything is saved. For the old place you kept as a rental, the closing statement fills in its cost basis (what you paid plus closing costs), and Nimbus shows the building's yearly depreciation deduction.

Start with an address, and bring your household

You can start on Nimbus with nothing but your home's address. Type it on the home page, and you'll see your home before you create an account. Add it, and Nimbus fills in its details from public records for you to check. To sign in, enter the code we email you (a password is still one tap away), and you'll stay signed in for 30 days.

A home is often shared, so your account can be too. Household sharing lets a spouse or partner join your account with their own login, with full access or view-only access. The invite is one link, and it works for someone who has no account yet.

Also shipped

Much of this month's work was taking things out. Nimbus has fewer pages and fewer buttons than it did in September.

• Simpler navigation. One Rentals page, with profit and loss as a tab. The separate Valuation, Reports and Profile pages are retired, and Settings is now a single account area, without the old Portfolio tab.
• Ask Chene replaces Run a scenario, and the homeowner dashboard no longer shows a scenario checklist.
• No placeholder buttons. We removed buttons for features that didn't exist yet.
• Neighborhood demographics removed. Nimbus no longer shows the demographic makeup of a neighborhood, in line with fair housing rules.
• Two plans. The 14-day free trial of Portfolio+ starts only if you choose it.
• Nimbus in your AI assistant, in a private beta. A connected assistant can read your homes and what needs your attention. Any change it suggests waits for your yes in the chat, and Connected apps lets you undo it. We rewrote our privacy, terms and security pages to cover it.
• For your rentals: a Needs review queue when Nimbus is unsure which property a transaction belongs to, loan payments shown as their own figure, and a note showing how much money the page leaves out because it isn't rent or a running cost. The loan form also records how much of your payment goes to escrow.
• If your agent set up your account, the Talk to my agent button sends them a note when you want to talk. They see none of your activity.
• On the blog: Listings are back to summer 2019. Sales are not. and On Extension? The Rental Numbers to Pin Down Before October 15.

Get this update by email

One email a month: what we built, in plain words. You don't need a Nimbus account. Get the Nimbus monthly update

Know someone who owns property?

The home they live in, a rental, a vacation home, or land. The market lookup and the free calculators work for them too, and neither needs a signup.

Or get paid for sharing

If someone you refer signs up for a paid plan, you earn cash. Real cash, paid by ACH.

• Refer another property owner. You earn 10% of their annual subscription: $39 when they take Portfolio+.
• Refer a real estate agent. You earn 20% of their subscription for 24 months, up to $2,080 per agent depending on tier. Same payout whether you are a property owner or another agent making the referral.
• Already a real estate agent? The agent referral page has dedicated tools for tracking client invites and agent referrals.

Get my referral link. Payouts are manual ACH once you cross $50 earned.

Tell us when we get something wrong

Nimbus is built in the open. If a calculation looks off, a market number is stale, or something in the product does not fit your situation, call it out. Reply to any email, send a note from the app, or grab time below. We will dig in, fix it, and credit the catch.

The point is not to be right. The point is accuracy, less anxiety around real estate decisions, and shared understanding instead of guesswork. That only works if mistakes surface and get corrected fast.

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Thank you.

Nimbus is here because of the family, friends, colleagues, and people from the internet who have sent encouragement, broken things in early demos, asked hard questions, and forwarded the platform to someone who needed it. None of that is taken for granted.

Steven Destine Founder, Nimbus Portfolio