Tools Of The Trade: Spreadsheet

I will talk about spreadsheet; excel since that is the one I use. The more streamline my process is in my real estate business the more productive I can be. 

 

I will first keep track of which property I'm running numbers on. This can be done on either a spreadsheet or database, but what I want to ensure is that I keep track of which property I've looked at and where I'm at in the process. I keep track of the address, the city, the province, the MLS #, the price, the unit and the status.

So when I'm pulling the list of the properties I intend to pull the numbers on, I will first make sure they are not in my spreadsheet. If it is then I can see where the status is. Am I still waiting for numbers? Did the numbers not work? Did they refused my offer? As the listed price change?

By doing this and keeping track of the status is how I came across the best deal I've seen so far. Wen I looked at the status it was marked conditionally sold. So I emailed the realtor to asked if it had been sold and it fact it wasn't and available again.

I'll then use a spreadsheet to list details of the income and expenses. Breaking them down in both months and year. Make sure you include debt repayment and a clear guideline of what your criteria are. The ROI, CAP Rate and any other indication you use should be calculated on there. When properly set up, it should take you minutes to run the numbers. Streamlining this process. My spreadsheet will also indicate what the property is worth based on my criteria and where my first offer should be. This leaves very little room for emotions to interfere with my business.

I also use a spreadsheet to keep track of all the numbers on my owned properties. This makes it so that I can quickly see how a property is performing, where it is straying from the budgeted plan and so on. This helps me stay on track and keeps me accountable.

If you do not have the skills to get the most of your excel program I recommend you take an evening course.