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A.CRE 101 – Basic Concepts in CRE

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Real Estate Financial Modeling Accelerator (Updated June 2026)

Before launching the Accelerator program, Michael and I received countless emails requesting a more structured, step-by-step real estate financial modeling training program. Over the years, we've covered hundreds of real estate modeling…
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IRR vs Discount Rate: Two Sides of the Same Coin (Case Study + Model) (Updated March 2026)

In the discipline of commercial real estate financial modeling, certain principles serve as foundational pillars, essential across all valuation, acquisition, and investment analyses. Few concepts are as omnipresent, yet as frequently misunderstood,…
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Watch Me Build A Construction Draw Schedule (Updated Feb 2026)

In the following video, I record my screen and narrative my steps as I build a basic construction draw schedule. I've also included the template and completed worksheets from this Watch Me Build exercise. Are you an Accelerator member? See…
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Deep Dive: Understanding the Time Value of Money in Commercial Real Estate

In commercial real estate, nearly every investment decision boils down to a key question: What is the present value of uncertain future cash flows? The answer exists because money has a fundamental property: its value changes over time. The…
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Best Practices in Real Estate Financial Modeling (Updated Nov 2025)

Before you use one of our real estate financial models (i.e. Excel templates), or before you set out to build your own real estate analysis tool in Excel, it's important to keep in mind a few real estate financial modeling best practices. This…
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How to Prepare for the Real Estate Technical Interview (Updated Nov 2025)

So you've made it past the HR screening interview. You have the education and experience the company is looking for, but now they want to be sure you possess the real estate financial modeling skills necessary to do the job. They've asked…
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The Definitive Guide to Microsoft Excel for Real Estate (Updated Oct 2025)

Microsoft Excel is the primary tool used by real estate financial modeling professionals. Even while numerous non-Excel alternatives have attempted to de-throne Excel, the 35+ year-old software has shown to be surprisingly resilient to competition.…
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Watch Me Solve a REPE Technical Interview Modeling Test (Updated Sept 2025)

What better way to spend some free time over the Thanksgiving holiday, than to record myself completing a real estate private equity technical interview exercise! While I've offered help with the real estate technical interview in the past,…
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The Real Estate Site Visit Checklist: What to Look For and Other Thoughts

In our business, initial assessments are most often made from a distance. We rely on Google Maps satellite images, broker packages, demographic reports, street view, and more to evaluate a multi-million-dollar property. And these assessments…
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30/360, Actual/365, and Actual/360 – How Lenders Calculate Interest on CRE Loans – Some Important Insights (Updated July 2025)

(Updated August 7, 2019 to include a Watch Me Build video and Downloadable file) Commercial real estate lenders commonly calculate loans in three ways: 30/360, Actual/365 (aka 365/365), and Actual/360 (aka 365/360). Real estate professionals…
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Watch Me Build a Residential Land Development Model (Updated June 2025)

Over the years, we've created a sizable library of Watch Me Build videos covering Excel models for various real estate investment and property types. However, we've yet to create a Watch Me Build involving for-sale product. So this weekend,…
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Learning Real Estate Financial Modeling in Excel (Updated Oct 2024)

We're often asked by our readers how we learned to be proficient in real estate financial modeling. The question usually arises because the person wants to know how to model real estate in Excel to either land a job in commercial real estate…
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Watch Me Build a Dynamic Mortgage Amortization Table in Excel (Updated September 2024)

There are a few basic, yet fundamental, real estate modeling skills you must master before anyone will take you seriously as a real estate professional. Building a mortgage amortization schedule is one of them. Virtually every model you…
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Deep Dive – Land Acquisition and Assemblage (Updated September 2024)

This is a topic I'm all too familiar with. You see, I cut my teeth in real estate largely sourcing and negotiating residential and mixed-use land acquisition opportunities.  I've put land deals together both as a fiduciary and as a principal,…
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Watch Me Build a 3-Tier Real Estate Equity Waterfall Model (Updated Aug 2024)

As I've mentioned in other Watch Me Build posts, one way to become a better real estate financial modeling professional, is to watch other professionals model. Thus, the more exposure you can get to other's methods, the more adept a real estate…