Comparison
HomeAxis vs a spreadsheet for tracking real estate transactions
Plenty of good agents run their deals from a spreadsheet. It is free, flexible and theirs. Here is an honest look at where a spreadsheet works, where it breaks, and what a transaction app does differently.
Updated by the HomeAxis team
Where a spreadsheet works
A spreadsheet costs nothing, you already know how to use it, and it bends to any process. For an agent with a handful of deals a year, a clear sheet with one row per deal and a column per date is a real system, and much better than memory.
If you build one, put every contract date in its own column, compute task dates from those columns with formulas rather than typing them, and keep a “next action” column you sort by every morning.
Where it breaks
- It does not tell you anything. A spreadsheet waits to be opened. On a busy week, that is the week it is not.
- Amendments break it quietly. A pasted value over a formula, or a row copied from an older deal, and the walkthrough date is wrong with no sign of it.
- It is hard to use between showings. Agents work on a phone, often one-handed. Spreadsheets are built for a desk.
- It does not help with the client. The tracking is only half the job; the texts and the “where are we?” questions are the other half.
Side by side
| Spreadsheet | HomeAxis | |
|---|---|---|
| Getting the dates in | You type them from the contract | Snap the contract or pick the PDF; you check what it read |
| Dating the tasks | Formulas you build and maintain | Buyer and seller playbooks counted from the contract dates |
| When a date moves | Fix the date; hope every formula follows | Change it once or snap the amendment; dependent tasks move, finished ones stay |
| Reminders | None, unless you add calendar entries | Today screen, nudges and a morning summary |
| Client updates | Written from scratch each time | Drafted on the task; you tap Send from your own phone |
| Client view | None, or a shared sheet | A private client page with a PIN and your logo |
| On your phone | Small cells, easy to break | Built for one hand between showings |
| Cost | Free | First 2 deals free, then $14.99 per deal or $9.99 a month |
Moving from a spreadsheet
Your spreadsheet already holds your process. Bring it with you: the HomeAxis playbook is fully editable, so your stages, tasks, timing and wording replace the defaults. Then snap the contract on your next deal and compare the dated list with what your sheet would have given you.
Prefer to keep the spreadsheet? Use the free closing timeline calculator to check your formulas against a full deadline schedule.