Timing- Reporting Start Date

OK great! You've created a new file and are staring at the Timing Tab under Property Description, right?! If not and you're confused, go HERE first!

Otherwise, if you've somehow gotten away from the timing tab, it's easy to find again. In left hand corner, select Property > Timing...

Voila! Back on the timing page. 

First we're going to talk about Reporting Start Date (the second Box on the screen) 

Now, All this knowledge I'm throwing down... 65% of it comes from my time working in the Capital Markets group of a brokerage firm. Other companies/professionals have different needs/desires/wants from argus. This is just my experience. Property management almost certainly approaches argus different than an aggressive brokerage house coming in and trying to sell a property. 

For brokerage, typically when we are using argus it is because a client has come to us and is considering selling their property. All our assumptions are based on this, and the first assumption we usually make is about timing. Real estate transactions take a long time. It's the nature of the multi-faceted, one-of-a-kind, sometimes headache-inducing beast. 

If we set up a model in September, most likely we're looking at a Year End Close. Hopefully, cross your fingers, before Christmas. The timing of your cash flows should reflect that. Our argus therefore, will have a Reporting Start Date, (if it's September, 2014) of January 2015. 

Why January 2015? Because we're trying to tell Buyers, "Hey look! If you purchase this fabulous property, and own it starting January 1, 2015, look how much money you can make! 

Typically you want to look 3/4/5 months out, but it all depends on what the client wants. Real estate is weird. Each property has different needs. 

Now, a January 2015 timing is fabulous. It feels so good. It's on the calendar year. Seriously, so great. Maybe too simple for us though. Let's say we have a client that is superstitious about closing around the holidays or they want the sale to be in Q1 2015 and they want to close around the end of January. In this tutorial for the Sparkle Palace we'll have a Reporting Start Date of 2/15 (February 2015). This goes in the SECOND BOX. Put it in there! 


NOW! Onto Analysis Start Date.....