Transforming a Financial Model into a Web App with AI
I have often considered that time is one of the most valuable resources for any professional in commercial real estate. That’s why I’ve transformed our Excel-based house flipping model into a financial model web app, making analysis faster, easier, and more accessible.
Today, AI-powered tools let us automate tasks, streamline calculations, and turn advanced financial models into interactive experiences accessible from any device. This not only reduces time, but it also expands the reach of our solutions, bringing high-level analysis to more scenarios and stages of the investment process.
For years, the A.CRE team has built financial models to answer investment questions rigorously. One of those tools is our Excel Proforma for Flipping Houses, designed to evaluate home purchase, remodeling and resale operations efficiently. It’s a powerful model, and I thought to take it a step further.
In the era of AI, one question immediately came to mind: What if anyone could run this model directly from their browser—without ever opening Excel?
From Spreadsheet to Financial Model Web App
The goal was clear: turn our proforma into a simple, visual, and accessible Financial Model Web App while maintaining accuracy, and do it without a development team or weeks of programming.
For this, I drew inspiration from A.CRE’s AI tools, which showcase how artificial intelligence can reshape real estate analysis. Notably, the Real Estate Case Study Creator Wizard generates bespoke investment scenarios for different profiles and asset types, demonstrating the practical power of AI in education and practice. These innovations paved the way for transforming our own proforma into an interactive and accessible experience.
Thanks to recent advances in artificial intelligence, I made it possible.
For this project I will use:
- ChatGPT to translate logic and structure instructions.
- Lovable to generate the web interface in an assisted way.
- Replit to process the model and deliver the results in Excel.
The result is a web application based on our Excel Proforma for Flipping Houses, where the user enters only the key inputs – purchase price, remodeling costs, term, resale value and transaction expenses – and receives in seconds indicators such as net profit, ROI, IRR and projected cash flow in a downloadable Excel file.
How it works in practice
The WebApp retains the essence of the original model:
- Simple, well-organized inputs with appropriate formats
- Automatic calculations in our Excel proforma
- Clear outputs in a downloadable, auditable file
We also incorporated an important feature: the final file downloads without macros to ensure compatibility and security.
Note: In the English version, the “Uses of Capital” chart currently does not render, likely due to limitations in the protocol used in Replit. The Spanish version preserves all elements. We’re investigating a fix.
More than an app, a strategic tool
For me, this project wasn’t just about replicating a model. Building this Financial Model Web App opened new possibilities for how financial analysis is used in the real estate sector.
It can serve as:
- Simulator to attract or present to customers or partners from the web
- Presentation tool in meetings with investors
- Fast internal calculator to evaluate opportunities preliminarily
Better yet, the workflow we developed with ChatGPT, Lovable, and Replit can be replicated across other financial models, expanding the scope of our tools.
The Result
Today, our proforma for buying and selling houses not only lives in Excel: it is also online, available to test in https://sfr.adventuresincre.app/
To make this tool accessible to everyone, it is offered on a “Pay What You’re Able” basis with no minimum (enter $0 if you’d like) or maximum (your support helps keep the content coming – typical excel model tools sell for $100 – $300+ per license). Just enter a price together with an email address to send the download link to, and then click ‘Continue’. If you have any questions about our “Pay What You’re Able” program or why we offer our models on this basis, you can contact our support team here.
It’s a concrete example of how AI can transform complex models into interactive, accessible, and scalable experiences, without losing the rigor that professional real estate analytics demands.
We invite the community to explore the app, experiment with different scenarios, and share their feedback to continue improving it.
