Apartment Investing Model

[Sam Garner]

Do you guys build your own models or have you guys had any luck downloading some? Either models are too complex, or they're overly simplified. I'm all for DIY but wanted to explore this first. 

[Brian Burke]

When I first started I built a really simple model that was about as sophisticated as my skill level at the time.  It's simplicity was really reflective of how little I knew about modeling income property.

Next I stepped up to Real Data's REIA Pro. It's a good program and has a lot of advanced features for a few hundred bucks. But then I started running into limitations because I couldn't customize it when I needed to so something specific that the program wasn't built to do.

Finally I realized I just had to build my own if I wanted something that could do everything I wanted to do.  The first run at it was pretty good but couldn't handle all of the variations in financing and didn't have a user-friendly printed output.  So then I went back to the drawing board and started over.  This time I got it right, but even still I've done over 100 different versions over the years as I add features and capabilities.  Now it does everything I want no matter what is thrown at me, and I can't say the same about any commercial product I've seen.

Another benefit to writing your own model--you know exactly what it is doing.  Nothing is worse than having an investor ask a specific question about your numbers and you are caught stumbling and saying "I don't know how that's calculated".

Bottom line is most sophisticated buyers build their own models (and never share them).  But it isn't easy, I've probably spent a couple thousand hours on mine.  Your model should function for the way you operate, it isn't one size fits all.