Quick and Dirty Real Estate Investment Analysis Spreadsheet - calculates present value of annual and cumulative cash flows, present value of equity, and annual growth rates ignoring taxes

Below is a quick and dirty real estate investment analysis spreadsheet that I put together for a reader at FiveCentNickel.  While the spreadsheet is somewhat limited in scope compared to more sophisticated, professional level analysis tools, it does give some ballpark figures for present value and future value cash flows and equity as well as the annual rate of return while ignoring taxes and a few other data.  Using a spreadsheet like this is important for real estate investors because with so many moving parts, the real value of a property and it's annual rate of return can become clouded.

Anyone who has heard a fair amount of investment stories will typically be able to recall someone who 'doubled' their money on a property.  While doubling your money is a good thing, if it takes 30 years to do it, well...who cares?  What this spreadsheet is designed to do is put things into perspective of annual returns as well as present values of each component of the property's return components - equity and cash flows.

Of course, this is entitled 'Quick and Dirty' with good reason.  It ignores taxes including deduction, depreciation, depreciation recapture, and capital gains.  It also ignores the rate of return on free cash flows (assumes it matches inflation) so the returns characterized are understated overall.  Lucky for you, it's in Excel so you can customize it to your heart's desire.

Here it is:  Download Quick and Dirty Real Estate Investment Analysis

By the way, whether you're analyzing a particular investment or your retirement, it's important to put things into present value terms so that apples to apples comparisons can be made.  Beyond that, it makes it easier to understand.