Business Plan Outline

I’m currently in the process of writing an over-arching business plan for my real estate company. While having a detailed plan is probably the most important prerequisite to starting a business, it’s also quite daunting. Trying to articulate my specific goals, quantifying the strategies I’ll utilize, the risks I’ll face, and the safe-guards I’ll put in place to ensure I’m successful is not the most fun part of this process.

But, while I’d like to just jump into the investing part of the adventure, I realize that laying out a specific plan will not only help ensure my success, but also help ensure that those who are supporting me — my business team and my investors — will be well-versed in my plan and positioned to help me succeed.

Over the next several weeks, I will be completing my Business Plan; while I’ve been going back and forth about whether or not I’ll post the plan on this site, (I think) I’ve decided that the benefits will outweigh the downside, so at the very least I will post some of the more interesting parts of it here so that others can fully understand what I’m thinking, provide some feedback, and hopefully be able to use the information to better build their plans.

I have even created a separate section of the website to track the progress of my business and provide links to each of the posts that contain pieces of my plan (this section is linked to from the main navigation bar at the top of each page).

Below is the Table of Contents I’ll use for the plan…

BUSINESS PLAN

Table of Contents

Overview of the Business

Definition of the Business Structure

Investment Strategy(s)

Criteria for Investment Location

Criteria for Investment Acquisition

Equity & Financing Strategy

Framework for Leveraging Outside Investment

Investment Team

Brandon says:

August 4, 2011 at 12:16 pm

Hi there-

First I want to thank you for publishing this site. It is amazing and your contributions are helping tremendously on certain aspects of getting started as an REI. I am interested in how you set up your business plan around Real Estate Investing….? I have written Business plans before, although currently I am flailing in the wind on this one. Can you email some details to assist me in any way possible. Thanks

Brandon

Duane says:

August 15, 2011 at 9:57 am

Can anyone send me a sample of their business plan for flipping homes?

J Scott says:

August 15, 2011 at 10:10 am

Brandon/Duane –

If you subscribe to my Newsletter (see subscription box in upper right corner of the site), you’ll get access to my business plans for free.

MARK says:

February 8, 2012 at 6:16 pm

J Scott,

Have been drafting my own multifamily plan and I happened to stumble upon your website.

After scanning your multifamily business plan I realized it is VERY similar to what I already have laid out and is very close to what I’m thinking.

Looking at your website it looks like your focus is flipping homes right now.

Did you not pursue your multifamily plan? If not, what were the factors influencing your decision?

Look forward to Hearing from you!

February 8, 2012 at 9:59 pm

Mark –

Take a look at this blog post I did back in July 2008:

http://www.123flip.com/my-strategy-from-here

Turns out the decision was a good one. The commercial and multi-family markets here in Atlanta have considered to get worse (in terms of deals), while cap rates have continued to drop. We’re probably getting to the point where there are some good commercial deals to be had, but there are also still some big players out there with a lot more experience and money.

Ultimately, single family seemed the best choice back in 2008, and as of right now, I think it still is. I continue to watch the commercial and multi-family markets and if I were ever to come across a great deal, I’d probably take the leap — but as of right now, I don’t think it’s a better area to focus on right now…