Do you know how to analyze your properties?  Do you have a checklist for what to look for when checking out a property? Both of these activities will make or break your business. Period. If you don’t know how to analyze properties, you can’t find good deals.  If you don’t know what due diligence activities are necessary, you my buy a “lemon”, which will cost you thousands.

 So, I ran across this tool to assist us with the first activity.  The Rental Property Analysis Tool is a free utility that calculates everything from Debt-Equity ratios to Cash flows to annual rate of return. You simply key the inputs in from your meetings and disc0very process and you get neat, clean organized reports based your property inputs.  It even allows you save property files on your computer for each property, or “project” (my term).

Due diligence is important because it allows you to make sure properties will pass “muster”.  It includes things like checking the roofing, the foundation and kinds of insurance.  I recommend checking out Carlton Sheets’ or Robert Kiyosaki’s lists. They are fairly comprehensive although not perfect. The only perfect list is the one you feel the most comfortable with.

Good Luck!