Wrote a real quarterly update for nine investors, two asked about the next deal

Nine LPs, $610,000 raised, small building. For the first three quarters I sent an email that said things are going well and here is your distribution amount. That was it, maybe five lines.

This quarter I built an actual template. Same order every time so people learn where to look. What we own and where it sits, what happened in the last three months, the money section with the distribution and how it compares to what we projected in the offering, what's coming next quarter, and the date of the next update. One page and a bit.

It took me four hours the first time because I had to hunt for numbers I'd never had to write down. The second one took two hours, the third took ninety minutes, and most of what's left is deciding how to say the awkward parts.

The awkward part this quarter was that we came in under the projected distribution because insurance renewed 31% higher than I budgeted. I wrote that in plain language with the actual dollar figure and what I'm doing about it at renewal next year. I braced for angry replies. Got none. Got two LPs asking what I'm buying next, and one of them has never asked me that in two years of owning this thing with me.

What I'd keep is putting the bad number in the update myself instead of waiting to be asked. What I'd change is that I should have started with the template in quarter one, because the first three emails set an expectation that I'm now raising, and people notice when the bar moves like that.

4 replies

1derekj19SB1B

The insurance line is the part I'd have chickened out of. Did you give the number as a percentage or as dollars per unit per year? I'd guess the second lands better because it's small and specific, but you're the one who watched the replies come in.

1ryanmck27SC2C

Nine LPs and you're writing and sending it yourself, which is fine at nine. At what count do you stop being the one who hits send? I ask because a friend crossed 40 and it turned into a job that ate his Fridays, and he never picked a number in advance, he just drowned.

1tonyv88SO4CPRO6

If you want the writing time down further, ask your property manager to send you the same four numbers in the same order every month. Most of us will build a tiny custom report once if you ask nicely and never change the request. Your ninety minutes is probably half hunting and half writing.

1hannah_west29 Get yours

The comparison to the offering projection is the line that does the work and most updates leave it out. Once you print projected against actual you've made a rod for your own back for the whole hold, which is the point, because the quarter you skip that line is the quarter everyone knows why. One thing I'd add is the cumulative figure alongside the quarterly. An LP who has received 6.1% cumulative on a plan that said 7 reads a soft quarter very differently from one who only ever sees the last three months.

Wrote a real quarterly update for nine investors, two asked about the next deal

4 replies