Using Google Forms, sheets and sites

[Mike Beaudry]

Hey all....quick tip. Been listening to lots of podcasts. This method requires a little set up time but I found it worth it if you are using Google sheets to keep track of your real estate.  

Here's what you can do. 

Create a google site, in setting make it private to only you. Also click the box to make it adjust to mobile view. 

Now go to Google form and create forms you can fill out for your real estate. For example create a mileage tracker, rent collection form, maintenance requests, tenant communication, expenses, etc. You can make any kind of form you want.  Once you create the form have the answers send to a Google sheet. Different sheet for each form.  Now go back to the site and embed the forms creating a page for each form, you will have to adjust the size of form when yyou embed it so it will fit on the mobile site.    Now when you out at your properties or driving for business you can enter the info in the mobile form and it will automatically go to your Google sheet. You can then copy the info to your income expense property spreed sheet.  Keep the forms spreadsheets so you have a second record of your data. One good thing about the forms is they are automatically dated and time stamped. So for example your mileage will be dated and time stamped in case you get audited for mileage. If you have a few properties far away your mileage can add up since federal rate is now .575 per mile. My accountant says high mileage deductions can cause an audit. 

I guess that turn into a long tip. 

[Scott Pigman]

This is a great tip; as a newbie to google's cloud based suite of tools it opened my eyes to some possibilities I hadn't realized before.

Something I discovered is that you can add additional columns to the spreadsheet to perform calculations on the values submitted from the form. For example, I created a simple property analysis form where I enter the address, ARV, rehab estimate, estimated rent and asking price. Then in the spreadsheet I added columns to calculate what percent of ARV the all-in price comes to (i.e. the "70% rule" number — that should have a name but I don't recall seeing one), the GRM, the "2% rule" number (which also need a name), cap rate, etc.

Another nice feature is that if you add new fields to your form they are inserted into your spreadsheet between the previously existing form columns and any columns you added. Nothing gets overwritten.