Microsoft Excel – The Biggest Liar

September 18th, 2008 . by Rob Swanson

Hey real estate investors,

Let me share a little secret. Excel lies! Period.

Do you know what I mean? You can make a spreadsheet tell you what you want to hear. It doesn’t matter whether it’s true or not. If you manipulate it until the output works, you’ll feel great. Right?

Well, actually wrong. When you’re analyzing your deals, if you choose to use Excel, don’t keep tweaking the numbers until it says what you want it to say.

Study your market, know your numbers and plug them in. Develop and have a very specific buying formula and criteria and stick with it. Educate yourself and then simply let Excel output the complicated calculations. But, you must know what to plug in to begin with.

Just be wary. In my earlier days, I would play with the spreadsheet for hours until I convinced myself that the numbers I plugged in made good enough sense and, until I like the output. I used Excel to justify my own lie.

So, is Excel really the biggest liar. Well, maybe it the person plugging in the data in an all encompassing effort to find that next great deal. Good deals are everywhere, great deals come with persistence and you can create a consistent flow of both by learning the business of real estate investing.

Just don’t lie to yourself and justify it with a spreadsheet. If a deal is really a deal, you should know instantly!