Nuevo Contenido en Español (Actualizado Abril 2025)
Ver y leer nuevo contenido en español. Este contenido ha sido creado por el equipo A.CRE para profesionales en la inversion inmobiliaria. Tutoriales, modelos financieros, educación, y mucho más.
Entries by Spencer Burton
AI Tools for Commercial Real Estate (Spring+ 2025 Edition)
If you haven’t noticed, we’ve been exploring use cases, training, and tools related to AI in commercial real estate a lot lately! The reason is that Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to revolutionize the commercial real estate industry by transforming the way acquisitions, development, management, advisory, and marketing teams in the industry operate. AI tools […]
Microsoft has blocked the macros in my A.CRE model – What now?
When downloading and opening an Excel model from A.CRE, some users may get the ominous message: “Microsoft has blocked macros from running because the source of this file is untrusted.” If you’ve received this message, you’re probably asking, “Why did this message appear, and can I use the file without macros?” In this tutorial, I’ll […]
Residential Land Development Pro Forma (Updated Apr 2025)
As many of you know, I started my career in residential land development first as a broker and later as a principal. During that time, I built my fair share of residential land development Excel pro formas, modeling returns and forecasting cash flows for my clients and investor partners. I’ve since transitioned into the institutional […]
Real Estate Headline Sentiment Index – Help Shape It, Get Early Access
Want a better way to track what’s happening in CRE markets—before traditional metrics catch up? We’re partnering with Marquette University to build a powerful new AI-powered metric called the Real Estate Headline Sentiment Index (REHSI) —and we need 30-seconds of your time to help guide it (and in return, we’ll get you free early access!). […]
Being an AI-First Member of the Team – The New Baseline Expectation
A few days ago, I came across this internal memo from Shopify’s CEO, Tobi Lütke, which he decided to publicly share because it was already in the process of being leaked. The memo was honest, direct, and (to me) deeply resonant. “Reflexive AI usage is now a baseline expectation at Shopify.” That line stopped me […]
Multifamily (Apartment) Acquisition Model (Updated Apr 2025)
Our library of real estate Excel models has a variety of decent apartment models, including our All-in-One model and our Apartment Development Model – both robust models in their own right. However, if you’re looking for a straight multifamily (apartment) acquisition model, and don’t want all of the unnecessary components of the All-in-One (ie. office, retail, industrial modules), […]
AI for CRE Course – Learn to Use AI in Real Estate
AI is here. And while the buzz can be overwhelming, don’t mistake noise for irrelevance. In commercial real estate, artificial intelligence is already reshaping how work gets done. Yes, the technology has limits, and yes, it’s often misunderstood. But those who grasp both its shortcomings and its strengths—and learn to strategically apply AI in their […]
A.CRE Build-to-Rent (BTR) Development Model (Updated Mar 2025)
Build-to-rent (BTR) has become more and more common in CRE and now accounts for a meaningful share of development. In the past, we’ve recommended A.CRE readers use our Apartment Development Model for BTR analysis. However, as we’ve received numerous requests over the few years for a purpose-built BTR model – including an inquiry in a […]
A.CRE Value-Add Apartment Acquisition Model (Updated Mar 2025)
We’ve shared a handful of apartment models over the years. Several of those are capable of analyzing apartment acquisitions but none was built for the express purpose of modeling value-add apartment deals. As a result, each has its limitations in value-add scenarios. So today, I’m excited to share a new apartment model; this one built […]
Ground Lease Valuation Model (Updated Mar 2025)
The topic of ground leases has come up several times in the past few weeks. Numerous A.CRE readers have emailed to ask for a purpose-built Ground Lease Valuation Model. And I’m in the process of creating an Advanced Concepts Module for our real estate financial modeling Accelerator program covering the mechanics of modeling ground leases. […]
Tutorial on How to Model Irregular Growth Rates in Real Estate
When building a real estate financial model, managing income and expense growth is rarely as simple as applying a fixed growth rate year over year. In real estate investment analysis, growth assumptions need to be flexible, dynamic, and reflective of real-world realities. One common challenge is modeling irregular growth rates, where: Growth occurs annually but […]
Supercharge Excel with the ‘Excel 4 CRE’ Add-In – Now with AI (Updated Mar 2025)
Today, we’re thrilled to share with the A.CRE community a new timesaving (and free) Excel tool: the ‘Excel 4 CRE’ Add-in! Over the past few years, we at A.CRE (together with our new favorite companion, ChatGPT!) have been developing and sharing this Excel add-in. The goal? To make real estate financial modeling faster and more […]
Single Family Home Construction Pro Forma for Home Builders (Updated Feb 2025)
I’m often asked to share models centered around residential development and home building. This is an area of real estate I’m completely comfortable in, since I spent the first 10 years of my career in new residential development. Not surprisingly, I’ve assembled a decent size library of Excel pro formas for land developers and home […]
All-in-One (Ai1) Model for Underwriting Development and Acquisitions (Updated Feb 2025)
As many of you recall, in 2015 I set out to build an Excel alternative to the widely-used (and now discontinued) ARGUS DCF. With career moves and a lot of other A.CRE-related side projects, this undertaking has been slow going. Alas, in 2016 I released the first beta-version of the model – my All-in-One (Ai1) […]