Spring is ending and summer is almost upon us, so what does this mean to Real Estate Business Owners? I’ll tell you what it means, 5 weeks left to determine how much money you will have in your bank account in March 13 is what.

Every year a sizeable percentage of business owners that don’t get this right suffer the hardship of cash flow shortages coming into Easter, and they don’t need to.

The silly thing is that even if you are having moderate or weaker finish to the year, you can have a big impact, to soften the blow, by planning ahead.

Here are 4 things you can do to manage your cash flow.

1. Have a good look at your settlements and when they are anticipated, in short make sure you know how much money you have coming in after xmas and when.

2. Depending on answer above, if it looks tight, get busy listing as early as possible on the other side of xmas, if you can’t impact your pre xmas selling opportunities. Act with intent and make sure your agents are focused on preparing for January, if you log off early, so will your team, don’t make that mistake. Get creative and put some ideas and pitches together for Vendors, that get them ready for January as well.

3. Don’t splash out on unnecessary items, protect your cash flow over the Xmas period. Remember you will have BAS payable in February and April, on top of quieter settlements because of the Late December early January period, you often have poor incoming cash flow just when the Tax is due.

4. If you think you may need to, get busy talking to your bank, because your spring period is often a good time to show your profitability, and arrange for some extra cash flow by discussing OD extensions, if you wait until March, it could look a lot worse. Be prepared.

I hope you have a great finish to the year, and I know that 2012 won’t be looked upon fondly, but the reality is looking ahead, maybe this 2012 are the market conditions that will be in place for the foreseeable future. Opportunities are there for the people facing reality and getting busy, the Victims are the businesses pining for the past. I hope you are getting busy.