If you’re a real estate investor or agent trying to create the cash flow, rates of return, or profitability for rental properties with your own Excel spreadsheet and have become frustrated by the process and are now ready to buy good real estate investment software, then you fall into one or more of several categories.
You created your own spreadsheet but are feed up trying to learn how to compute all the formulas
You don’t know all the formulas
You’re not sure that you’re including all the critical measures and rates of return required for a rock-solid rental property analysis
You’re not sure what measures and rates of return to include
You don’t know enough about Excel to produce professional-quality reports you would feel confident to present to clients, lenders, or partners
You rather make money on the deals, rather to spend the time to learn how to make quality presentations that can present and perhaps close the deals
You rather make money selling investment property than to develop an application for Excel that might help you sell investment real estate
You have decided to use the “wheel” someone else has developed rather than continuing to spend the time and effort trying to re-invent the wheel
You simply don’t have the time to spend any longer
Please trust me. Having sold real estate investment property as an agent, broker, and investor for the past thirty-years I understand. Although spreadsheet programs like Excel provide excellent features that make it possible for just about anyone to create their own rental property analysis solution, it does require some learning and an ample amount of time and effort. Plus, to make it most meaningful, you also need a good understanding of real estate investing nuances.
When I developed my own real estate investment software, I already had about thirty years experience working with investment properties and investors. So it wasn’t an issue for me of not knowing the formulas for the rates of return and measures required to create a sound and meaningful income property presentation. Excel, on the other hand, was quite a different story. And I must admit that it took me countless hours to master it.
Okay, so why did I? It certainly wasn’t my first choice. Initially I purchased two different real estate investment software programs without even a thought about creating my own spreadsheet. But after discovering so many weaknesses in both programs I simply felt that I could get what I wanted only by creating my own program.
But I digress.
This article is not about me, it’s about you and your requirement to buy a good real estate investment software solution that will create the cash flow, rate of return, and profitability analysis and presentations to supplement your real estate business. And the good news for you is that you can. Thanks to the web you can locate, purchase, and download an investment software solution without leaving your desk. Plus, it doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg-you can be up and running for about two hundred dollars.
Here’s some advice. Foremost, be sure to purchase the software that you need. If you plan to work with investment property only casually then you might not need a program that includes all four elements of tax shelter. If you are more engaged in real estate investing and are seeking to build or grow a real estate investing business then definitely consider a program that will compute taxes. Also, make sure that the program includes a marketing package or executive summary if you plan to market rental property in addition to analyzing it.
After all, regardless what anybody says, good real estate investment software is good only when it can meet your expectations and in turn service your business needs.