Hi All,
I would like to start a thread that I hope will benefit everyone. I myself (like many of you I'm sure) have a hard time keeping track of notes and thoughts when I'm analyzing acquisitions. For example, if you look at my desk today, I have the following projects open: three properties in the process of being refinanced, two properties being sold, three acquisitions being analyzed and a construction loan. This on top of whatever random stuff I'm asked to do makes my note taking sporadic and often lost in the clutter.
I was hoping in this thread we could share organizational, note keeping, etc. tips that we have learned on the job and from others.
I'll go first but hope to learn for you all.
1) When making changes to ARGUS runs from an OM we are sent I always make a .doc file where I keep track of changes I made to the file. For example "2323 Market St: Decreased market rent inflation from 4,5,4,4,3 to general inflation of 3%"
2) I have an excel file called "TO DO" which I always leave open. It have columns labeled: Project, Start Date, Deadline, Broker/Lender, Notes. I also have another section in that tab labeled "Side Projects" for work ideas/project I want to complete that are not urgent/necessary
I would love to hear from others about their SOP when it comes to keeping track of deal notes, workflow, etc.
Internal pipeline tracking spreadsheet for all deals that we are working on with the current status (i.e. waiting for info from broker, LOI, under construction, etc..). Some one sends this out weekly.
I keep bullet points on everything I touch in an excel workbook and have a meeting with the different investment platforms every monday morning to discuss what I did last week, what I/we need to do this week, and how I should allocate time based on deal priority
Huge Whiteboard in my office that is actually used
Outlook has to be organized accordingly. Mine is categorized by the type of investment and geographic location
We do the same thing with our excel models, they are saved with dates and initials with a "running updates" tab that records changes (date, reason, person, etc..)
Metrics- I keep a metrics folder and includes various items such as: operating expense metrics by property type, build (highrise vs. midrise), development metrics for different hard and soft costs, current LIBOR forward curves.
This is a great thread. I am an acquisitions analyst and because we usually have so many deal in the pipeline it is always a challenge to keep track of everything. I always keep an excel document open with the current deals listed and some of the more notable info for each item. I also keep a to do list on the desktop notes so that I can quickly check off items for the day. We also use googledocs to update daily tasks so that each person can edit at the same time. Would love to hear other organizational tools and tricks.
side rant - Argus is fucking STUPID that it automatically saves everything you do. This may have changed in the past year and a half, though.
It has not, which is why in one folder you will find the following (that is if I remember to actually make a copy): XYZ St 3-1-14.sf XYZ St 3-2-14.sf XYZ St 3-3-14.sf XYZ St 3-3-14 V2.sf XYZ St 3-3-14 ABC tenant out in Yr 2.sf XYZ St 3-3-14 Divide ABC tenant space.sf
And so on. Why keep all of these versions you ask? Because at a moments notice my MD will think "Hmmm... remember that schedule from the first? Lets revisit that." and one too many times I can do go "Fuck, let me see if I can find my notes"
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