Comparison
KeptDo vs. Excel Spreadsheets
Excel is the default tool for multifamily underwriting. It is also the reason most operators spend 30–40 hours on every deal — and lose the fast-moving ones to syndicators who have moved on. Here is exactly how the two stack up.
TL;DR
Spreadsheets win on flexibility and sunk cost. KeptDo wins on every other axis that matters for active syndicators: speed per deal, consistency of underwriting, LP-ready outputs, and total cost when you price in analyst hours. If you underwrite more than 30 deals/year, KeptDo pays for itself in the first deal of the month.
Side-by-side comparison
| Dimension | KeptDo | Excel Spreadsheets |
|---|---|---|
| Time per deal (first-pass underwriting) | ~2 hours | 30–40 hours |
| T-12 / T-3 normalization | Automatic, source-traced | Manual, copy/paste from PDFs |
| Rent roll parsing | AI extracts from any format | Manual cleanup of broker exports |
| 100-point deal scoring | Built-in, every deal scored the same | Inconsistent, analyst-by-analyst |
| Scenario modeling (base/up/down) | Run in parallel, side-by-side | Save-as 3 files, hope they match |
| Market & rent comp data | Pulled and synthesized automatically | Manual research, CoStar exports |
| LP-ready pitch deck | Generated with sources | PowerPoint from scratch |
| LOI generation | In your voice, deal-specific | Template + manual fill-in |
| Version control / audit trail | Built-in version history | "final_v7_FINAL.xlsx" |
| Team collaboration | Role-based, comment threads | Email the file around |
| Excel export | Yes — open in Excel/Sheets | Native (it IS Excel) |
| Flexibility for one-off formulas | Edit any output, then re-export | Total — but it is on you |
| Up-front cost | $99–$249/mo | Already paid for |
| Hidden cost (analyst time) | Captured in the subscription | $5K–$6K of analyst time per deal |
Where spreadsheets still win
One-off, highly bespoke deals. If you are doing one or two creative deals a year that need a custom waterfall, a non-standard promote, or a deeply unusual capital stack, Excel will always be more flexible than any product.
You already pay for it. Excel is a sunk cost. The real cost of a spreadsheet workflow is the 30–40 hours of analyst time per deal — that does not show up on a monthly bill.
Total formula control. Need a one-off assumption only you and your CFO trust? Excel lets you do it instantly. KeptDo solves this by exporting every model to a clean Excel workbook so you can keep editing in the tool you know.
Where KeptDo wins (and by how much)
20× speed per deal
40 analyst hours becomes 2. Same rigor, defensible outputs, source-traced numbers.
Consistency across deals
Every deal scored against the same 100-point rubric so you compare like-for-like.
LP-ready by default
Pitch deck, LOI, and returns model generated together — not stitched after the fact.
No "final_v7_FINAL.xlsx"
Version history and collaboration live in the platform. No emailed copies, no merge pain.
Market data, in context
Comps, rent growth, supply pipeline pulled and synthesized against the specific deal.
Audit trail
Every number traces back to the source document. Defensible to LPs and lenders.
The math: a 30-deals-per-year operator
- Excel cost: 30 deals × 38 hours saved × $150/hr blended analyst cost = $171,000/year in analyst time.
- KeptDo Pro: $249/month × 12 = $2,988/year.
- Net savings: ~$168,000/year. ROI: ~57×.
And that is before you price in the deals you win because your LOI hit the seller's desk first.
FAQ
Can I still use Excel with KeptDo?+
Yes. Every KeptDo model exports to a clean Excel workbook with formulas intact. Open it in Excel or Google Sheets and edit anything. We see KeptDo as the underwriting workflow that ends in Excel — not a replacement for it.
How does KeptDo handle non-standard waterfalls or promotes?+
KeptDo supports standard preferred-return + promote structures out of the box and exports everything to Excel so you can layer in custom waterfall logic for one-off deals. For institutional teams with consistently non-standard structures, the Custom Build tier includes custom workflow configuration.
What if my analyst loves Excel and does not want to switch?+
Most KeptDo customers run a hybrid: KeptDo for first-pass underwriting and scoring (the work analysts dislike), Excel for deep-dive on the deals that survive the screen. Net result: same analyst, 3–5× more deals through the pipeline.
How is KeptDo different from existing real estate underwriting tools?+
Most existing tools are either institutional-grade platforms priced for $10M+ firms, or thin templates that automate 10% of the work. KeptDo is built for active syndicators between $5M and $200M AUM — the operators who need institutional-quality underwriting at SaaS pricing.
Try KeptDo on your next deal — free for 14 days.
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