Hi all. I have just started buying some BTL properties and I have come to the conclusion that I can not feel comfortable buying a number of properties unless I can get a realistic estimate of my monthly expenses.(my cash flow) Some high CG properties drain the income quite badly. Can anyone recommend a tool or give me a spreadsheet that stores information for multiple properties with a total monthly expense totaled at the bottom? I would be eternally grateful. It would save me a bit of time and would probably be better product than that wish I would create.. :-)

Hi brendan Not sure if it's what you're looking for, but try downloading our Buy To Let and Property Management Spreadsheet Software - it could help you out. You'll find them on the downloads page under the 'Tools' dropdown menu. Hope this helps.

Hi Ben, thanks for you prompt reply. I believe that the spreadsheet that you are referring deals with a single property. It takes into account anticipated CG per year and best and worst case scenarios. It takes into account all possible expenses and gives an estimate of cash flow on a yearly basis. What I require is a spreadsheet or tool that deals with multiple properties from the cash flow point of view. (no need for CG) It should only take into account a worst case so that enough money SHOULD definitely have been put by. As we know money in property will be made in the long term. However, if we run out of cash we can lose it all. It needs to be on a monthly basis so that I can also use this as a reference for some more important payments that are due. (completion date payments for off plan property) It should take into account all costs. I suppose the spreadsheet you are referring to would suffice if it was on a monthly basis (covering a least 2 years cash flow) and if it had a summary page accumulating the cash flows for all the properties, by month again. I could then reference this summary page to see when some large payments were coming up and make sure money was set aside for this. Clear as mud? If PS can help out I would be grateful..

A little more complicated than I believe we'd be comfortable providing, Brendan! You could adapt the Buy To Let Spreadsheet to your needs I think. If you have the time to do it! Sorry I can't help further, but good luck!

Hi. Thanks anyway Ben. I do feel that this is a tool that many of your subscribers could use in order to make them feel more confident in the purchase of more of your properties. Unless they have endless amounts of cash handy for subsidising many of your good CG but negative cash flow deals.. :-)

Hi Ben. It does in fact appear that you do supply almost all that I require, in the purchase price spreadsheet (cash flow tab). I have just created a summary page to total up the amounts for multiple developments. My question now is can the year 1, year 2, year 3 in this spreadsheet be replaced by year 2008 (this may be a partial year), year 2009, year 2010 etc.. so that I can be sure when adding up all developments that the time frame can be easily related? I think it makes your spreadsheet clearer and allows easier accumulation of cash flow.

Great stuff! Are you unable to change the dates due to the spreadsheet being locked, brendan? If so, let me know and I will solve that for you. Thanks.

Brendan, I hope this does not come across as cheeky, but it would seem as though you have developed a spreadsheet for analysing/reviewing cashflows for multiple investment properties. I would be very interested in this tool, would you be prepared to share this?

Hi Ken and Ben, I have developed a VERY crude spreadsheet that works for my purposes. I am happy to share this. I believe that Ben has misunderstood my question regarding the change of the year. I can do whatever changes I wish as I am saving them as separate spreadsheets and just storing details relevant to my units. What I would like for PS to do is change from their current format of year 1, year 2 etc (some developments start in June others in December, and the year 1 will start from this point in time) into using actually JAN-DEC years year 2008, year 2009. This will mean having a partial first year, perhaps from June-Dec, or Sep-Dec. This is then easier to use in a cash flow spreadsheet for multiple apartments. Am I being clear?

I'm with you, Brendan. I'll be perfectly honest - we COULD do that...but that would mean making sure those dates are correct on each and every deal we launch. And the more there is to manage, the more mistakes could be made. As you can no doubt see, there is a LOT to contend with on those spreadsheets, so we try to minimise where we can with generic info. I don't think we're likely to change that. And as you say, you can change it yourself, after all! Hope that's ok with you.