What Fix & Flip Calculator Do You Trust Most?

Question

I've noticed there are dozens of fix & flip calculators online, but they all seem to make different assumptions.

Some focus only on purchase price and ARV, while others include:

• Financing costs
• Holding costs
• Rehab budget
• Closing costs
• Realtor commissions
• Desired profit
• Cash required to close

Personally, I think a good calculator should show more than just whether a deal "works." It should help answer questions like:

• How much cash will I actually need?
• What's my total carrying cost?
• How sensitive is my profit if the rehab runs over budget or the project takes longer than expected?

I'm curious what everyone here uses.

Do you have a favorite calculator or spreadsheet? If so, what features make it useful? Or do you still prefer building your own in Excel?

I'd love to compare what's out there and maybe discover a few tools I haven't seen before.

Stuart Udis · Answer

I don't care how in depth your calculator or spreadsheet is, if the assumptions are not accurate then it's a worthless exercise. Too much time is spent trying to create or find the best calculator or deal analyzer rather than understanding accurate inputs.

Bruce Woodruff · Answer

Like @Joseph Cacciapaglia, @Chris Seveney, @Ken M. said - just build your own on Excel. Every house is different, every deal is different, every investor's numbers have different needs and limits.

I have built spreadsheets for decades too....for everything from Job Estimating to Flip Budgets to Off-Grid building.

Certainly look at online calculators to see which  categories they are using...you may want to steal some ideas and personalize them to suit your own picture.

People who just use online apps like everyone else are destined to be stuck in the middle of the pack with everyone else...

Drew Sygit · Answer

You want to invest based upon what a calculator recommends w/o understanding how the calculator works?

Joseph Cacciapaglia · Answer

I've been building my own models with Excel for the past 20+ years, and I believe it's the right way to go. I'm not a flipper, but have used them for general real estate investing, rehab and hold, and a bunch of other stuff. Early in my real estate education I was given an assignment to model an investment with Excel and with a popular (at the time) calculator. The goal was to come up with the same numbers that the calculator was spitting out, and it proved to be extremely difficult.

When you build your own model, it forces you to understand every assumption and all the math involved in the decision that you're making. I've seen a ton of new investors get burned because they were using a calculator or someone else's spreadsheet, but didn't fully understand how it worked. One thing that I've done for a lot of clients is walk through their spreadsheets and help them see what might be missing. I have almost never shared my own models, because I believe building the model yourself helps clarify your thinking about what you're trying to accomplish.

Alan F. · Answer

Never used 1, to mucat stake. Starting 1-27 CA's new SAAS tax kicks in lol.

Bruce Woodruff · Answer

What Drew said^^^  I never understand why new investors would put their trust in a spreadsheet/calculator that somebody else set the parameters and data input for. It's so easy to just make your own...

Chris Seveney · Answer

We use our own. Which one is better than the other is somewhat irrelevant. It really boils down to garbage in equals garbage out. If you do not have the experience or know how to forecast and estimate, then it does not matter how great the calculator is. The output is not going to be correct. The one thing that I will say, from somebody who built some forecasting models and calculators that are way overkill, is to keep it simple.

Ken M. · Answer

We developed our own with the options to use cash, financing or creative financing and includes what the options and benefits are for holding, wholesaling, seller financing, selling on lease option, wrap, fix & flip, including carrybacks and tax implications for each choice. It requires just a few inputs to analyze a property pretty quickly. We've called it BOMSTLO (Buy Off Market Sell (T- I forget ;-) Lease Option and gives profit and taxes for each choice.Since we call it BOMSTLO, I forget all the meanings of the letters of the acronym ;-)

What Fix & Flip Calculator Do You Trust Most?

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