[Best of 2019] 7 Google Sheet Templates for Real Estate Businesses

We're continuing an annual tradition of counting down our top 10 articles of the year. The following article was originally published in January and is #2 in our countdown. See #3 here.

In the real estate world, there's no telling what will come up or what you'll have to tackle in any given day. Fire drills aside, it's crucial to have a base plan for your business. A cozy home of organized data to fall back on. But fret not. If you're not the savviest when it comes to spreadsheet sorcery, Google Sheets has you covered. They have a library of pre-made templates to help make organizing your business (and your workouts, finances...life!) much much easier.

First things first, when you're on the Sheets homepage, just click on their template gallery to get an idea of all the possibilities. Thumbnails highlight each option, and one click lets you open your own version and begin working in the template. Your work will automatically be saved in your Google Drive so you can tweak and tinker with it as often as you like.

Remember that one of the most beautiful features in Google Sheets is that you can collaborate with others in real time. That means one place to interact and add information for any relevant parties and people!

Now let's dive in to a few of of favorite templates for real estate businesses:

1. Project Tracking Template

There's nothing like a little help from a planning tool when it comes to gathering all the pieces and numbers you need for tackling a project. Bring it all together with this Project Tracking Google template. Define your project (open house planning, a new direct mail campaign to plan, details for a big listing, you name it!) Determine the scope of your project, set due dates, and even assign other users of the spreadsheet to the task. Remember: Sheets is all about collaboration, so don't hesitate to include your team in this spreadsheet.

2. Weekly Time-Block Template

Ever have trouble carving our time to prospect? Or perhaps it's your lead nurturing that could use some dedicated time on the calendar. Wherever you're lacking or procrastinating, this time sheet template can help you build a daily schedule with time blocks for making sure tasks get completed. This template helps you break down your day and create a schedule to make sure nothing slips through the cracks.

3. Gantt Chart Template

A Gantt Chart is another good tool to help keep you focused on what needs your attention at any given time. (In case you're curious, Gantt charts are basically bar charts that illustrate a project schedule.This chart lists the tasks to be performed on the vertical axis, and time intervals on the horizontal axis. The width of the horizontal bars in the graph show the duration of each activity.)

Fill in your tasks and due dates, and this Gantt Chart template will help you plan out exactly what should be completed and when. This format is really helpful when you've got projects with interconnected steps, when you need to complete something before moving on.

4. Employee Scheduling Template

Round-robin, agent-on-duty, and hybrid team models could really benefit from this template for shift scheduling. This is also super handy if anyone in your office is part time, or if you're hiring some temp help during the summer. Managing part-time employees often means juggling their schedules and working around their other commitments, so keep it simple and share this template with the team.

5. Interview Tracking Template

The interview process can become a blur if you're meeting multiple candidates (while juggling the rest of your job!). It's so important to take notes while the interview is fresh, so this interview tracking template is a great way to easily document your experience to help you track responses and remember who stood out.

Customize this with your team's own interview questions and then log the key responses so that you can remember all the individual applicants.

6. Budgeting Template

Bills, bills, bills. Keeping income, expenses and all the financial details of your business can be a daunting task. If you're just starting out, this budget template is a great way to get everything tracked and on paper. If you already have a system for your company budget, this template can also help with budgets for long-term projects, smaller teams, separate offices, etc.

7. Pros and Cons Template

Deciding which house to buy can be equal parts exciting and stressful for your clients, a balancing act between finding a house that's a perfect fit for their lifestyle, budget and long-term financial goals. Considering the investment, keeping up with all the details can be nothing short of overwhelming. A Pros and Cons list can be a very helpful exercise when sizing up different properties and a great tool to share with your homebuyers. Help them fill our the pros and cons in this after you've visited properties so they can keep everything straight and in perspective.

Spreadsheets can certainly help with organizing some of the aspects of your business, but in order to flourish and grow, your business needs to be backed by smart technology to help you stay even more productive and efficient, and to keep everyone on the same page.

To view the original article, visit the BoomTown blog.