Your spreadsheet is not wrong.It just does not know what you left out.
A spreadsheet computes what you type into it.
It has no opinion about the cell you did not fill in.
The number that ends most first deals
Open any listing. Find the annual taxes.
That is what the seller pays.
In most places, the assessment resets when the property sells.
So the number in the listing is the one number in your entire underwrite that is guaranteed to be wrong, and it is the one everybody types straight into the sheet.
Your spreadsheet will not flag it.
It cannot. You gave it a number and it believed you.
Four more the sheet cannot see
The assumptions came from somebody else.
That template was built for another market, in another year, at another rate. Every default inside it is a decision that person made and never wrote down.
A number is not a verdict.
The sheet says a hundred and eighty a month. It does not tell you whether that is enough for this roof, this market, this rate, and your reserves.
It only models the plan.
Not the vacant month. Not the rent landing two weeks late. Not the repair you did not budget. On paper the deal looks identical either way.
It compares nothing.
One file, one deal. By your fourth property you have three versions of the same sheet and no way to say which deal is better.
What REDOS does instead
Same inputs. Same math. You can check every line.
The difference is what happens after the math.
It scores the deal. Not a number. A grade, with the reason.
It tells you what to change. If the refi leaves money in the deal, it says so, and it says what the purchase price would have to be for it to work.
It runs the deal against the failure case, not just the plan.
It keeps every deal you have ever analyzed in one place, so the fourth one can be compared to the first three.
It reads a listing and fills in what it can, so the assumptions you inherit are fewer.
Where a spreadsheet still wins
Straight, because you should hear it from us and not find out later.
Your spreadsheet is free.
Your spreadsheet bends. If your strategy is unusual, a sheet will follow you anywhere. REDOS has opinions and will argue.
You can see every formula. That is a real advantage. Keep it.
REDOS does not connect to your bank. No feeds, no reconciliation.
REDOS does not collect rent.
REDOS does not pull MLS comps. You bring those.
If your sheet already catches the tax reset, models a vacant month, and tells you when to walk away, keep using it. You built something good and you do not need us.
Most sheets do not do those things.
Most sheets were built to prove a deal works.
Never buy a deal the numbers said no to.
Run a deal free. No account.Common questions
Is a spreadsheet good enough for analysing rental property?
For the arithmetic, yes. A spreadsheet computes what you type into it perfectly. The gap is that it has no opinion about the cell you did not fill in, and no way to tell you that the number you typed is about to change.
Why are the taxes in a listing usually wrong?
The listing shows what the current owner pays. In much of the United States the assessment resets when the property sells, based on the new sale price. So the tax figure in the listing is the one number in your underwrite most likely to be wrong, and it is the one most people type straight into their sheet. Check the county assessor site and ask whether a sale triggers reassessment.
What does REDOS do that a spreadsheet does not?
The same math, which you can check line by line. The difference is what happens after the math: it scores the deal and gives the reason, it tells you what would have to change for the deal to work, it runs the deal against the failure case rather than only the plan, and it keeps every deal you have analysed in one place so the fourth can be compared to the first three.
When should I keep using my spreadsheet?
If your sheet already catches the tax reset, models a vacant month and tells you when to walk away, keep it. You built something good. A spreadsheet is free, it bends to any strategy you have, and you can see every formula in it. Those are real advantages.
Is REDOS free to try?
You can run a deal free with no account at /quick. The full analyzer, saved deals and comparisons are paid.
REDOS — the real-estate investor's operating system · redoshq.com · Estimates only, not financial advice.