I’d like to share a handy little trick I learned this week for hiding and unhiding tabs in Excel using drop-down menus. Now this method requires you to use some basic VBA code and to save the Workbook as a Macro-Enabled file but don’t be intimidated – no previous coding experience is required to make this work. […]
A few years ago, I recorded my screen as I built a 3-tier real estate equity waterfall model. What I didn’t mention in that Watch Me Build video, is that the kind of waterfall I built is colloquially called a European-style equity waterfall. And while that type of waterfall is extremely common, both in the […]
At A.CRE, we’ve built dozens of custom GPTs for internal and external purposes. Some of the GPTs have general application, while others are custom GPTs specifically for commercial real estate. One such CRE-specific GPT that we recently built and that I’m particularly excited to share today is our first real estate analyst GPT: our Advanced […]
In this Watch Me Build session, I’ll walk you through constructing a custom GPT that near-instantly sifts through Industrial Offering Memorandums to pinpoint whether an investment aligns with your criteria. At the heart of this build is a tailored GPT setup that efficiently processes and analyzes complex data sets found in these OMs. Custom GPTs […]
Over the years, I’ve received various requests to augment our library of real estate Excel models to include a model for underwriting and analyzing commercial mortgage loans. Specifically, people have asked for a tool to calculate the loan amount (ie. loan sizing) based on a combination of tests – debt service coverage ratio, loan-to-value, and […]
I originally uploaded this equity/construction loan draw and interest calculation tool to our library of real estate financial analysis models in 2016. Over the years, I’ve continued to update it as suggestions, comments, and requests flowed in from our readers. The model is meant to be used to forecast construction budget cash flows (uses), and then model […]
An important component in any acquisition, development, and value-add model is the Sources and Uses of Capital section. Of course, how the sources and uses are modeled and how those cash flows are visualized will vary from one model to the next. But no model is complete without an accurate estimation of the sources and […]
We often field questions about how to model property tax abatements. It’s a concept we cover in our the ‘Advanced Modeling – Property and Portfolio’ endorsement in our Accelerator real estate financial modeling training program and something that has come up several times in our Accelerator Q&A. So, I thought it worthwhile to write a […]
The A.CRE Geocoding Excel Add-in uses the Google Geocoding API to automatically convert a given address to latitude and longitude coordinates, or to convert a given latitude and longitude coordinate to an address. The add-in makes auto-populating latitude and longitude (or address) in Excel easy. It includes various features to help add or change the […]
As we enter a new year, it’s an ideal moment for CRE professionals to recalibrate and prepare for the challenges ahead – for some of you that means applying for new jobs. First impressions matter a lot in the job search, and for most job applications that first impression is made with the cover letter. […]
When building a real estate financial pro forma, it’s important to model for and include a summary of various return and risk metrics. Among the different return metrics, the internal rate of return (IRR) – both on an unlevered and levered basis – is one of the more important metrics to include in your analysis. One issue common to […]
Several times in the last month, I’ve been asked to tackle an interesting real estate financial modeling challenge – pare actual construction draw cash flows with s-curve cash flow forecasts to create an Actuals + Forecast Construction Draw schedule. The real challenge in this exercise, is to have the actual construction draws transition into the […]
As we approach the end of the year, it’s a time many of us pause to reflect and plan for the future. In my own career, I’ve always found the transition into a new year to be a prime opportunity for setting ambitious yet achievable goals. This year, I took a slightly different approach. Inspired by […]
Across a 22+ year career in the industry, I’ve encountered a range of complex scenarios that traditional metrics sometimes struggle to accurately capture. A case in point that has been top of mind for me recently is a weakness in the Equity Multiple, a metric fundamental to our understanding of investment performance but often lacking […]
In commercial real estate investing, the ability to forecast an asset’s potential cash flows, anticipate market trends and make accurate predictions is essential – especially in an environment of flat or rising rates. This skill, sometimes referred to as ‘superforecasting,’ is something I’ve been actively working to master in my own career. One of my […]