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A.CRE 101 – Basic Concepts in CRE

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real estate financial modeling courses

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Real Estate Financial Modeling Accelerator (Updated May 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…
Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) Property
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A.CRE 101: How To Use The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) Method To Value Income Producing Property (Updated Aug 2024)

The Discounted Cash Flow Method is a method to value a project by taking all future projected cash flows of the project and discounting them back to time zero (date of purchase) using a predetermined discount rate (the discount rate when used…
SUMPRODUCT Weighted Average
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Using SUMPRODUCT to Calculate Weighted Average in Real Estate (Updated Aug 2024)

In my experience, using the SUMPRODUCT function in Excel to calculate weighted average is one of the most oft-used Excel techniques in real estate financial modeling. I learned this technique on day one of my first real estate internship and…
Using the Cash-on-Cash Return in Real Estate Investment Analysis
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Using the Cash-on-Cash Return in Real Estate Investment Analysis (Updated Aug 2024)

I’ve fielded a handful of Cash-on-Cash (CoC) return questions of late. So, I thought it would be worthwhile to write a post on what the Cash-on-Cash return metric tells me about a potential real estate investment. This article is a primer,…
UNDERWRITING CAPITAL RESERVES
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The Road To A Stabilized NOI – Underwriting Real Estate Capital Reserves (Case Study – Case Only)

Achieving a stabilized Net Operating Income (NOI) in real estate requires careful planning and sound execution. One element that can cause confusion is when underwriting capital reserves. Should they go above the line (i.e., as an Operating…
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Analyzing a Real Estate Investment from the Perspective of an LP

We received a question from an A.CRE reader this week that I thought warranted a thorough response. The question was, and I paraphrase, "I am an LP looking for models to help vet syndication deals. Do you have any models that can be used to…
real estate private equity
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Deep Dive – Sources of Capital: Real Estate Private Equity (Updated July 2024)

Capital for commercial real estate investments is generally sourced from one or more of the following buckets: public equity, public debt, private equity, or private debt. In my experience, few people fully understand these four buckets of capital,…
Dallas Case Study real estate market trend analysis
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From Data to Decisions: Analyzing Real Estate Trends to Forecast Market Growth

Real estate market trend analysis is crucial for experienced professionals to identify up-and-coming neighborhoods. On a gut level, driving the streets of a community and engaging with residents, even for just an hour or two, can provide a clear…
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A.CRE 101: How to Use the Income Capitalization Approach to Value Income-Producing Property (Updated May 2024)

In commercial real estate, there are a few generally accepted methods for appraising (or valuing) real property. The three most common are the Cost Approach, the Sales Comparison Method, and the Income Approach. The Income Approach includes…
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Watch Me Build – Modeling a Rent Schedule in Both Excel and Using AI (Updated May 2024)

In this Watch Me Build video I show you how to build a custom rent schedule module for long-term leases. The foundation of the module is a simple INDEX/MATCH combination that takes a rent schedule and models the rent cash flows across the entire…
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Watch Me Build – American-Style Real Estate Equity Waterfall (Updated Apr 2024)

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.…
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Terminology Guide for Build-to-Rent Investment

We recently released a Build-to-Rent (BTR) Development model to help students and developers better analyze this emerging investment type in commercial real estate. As we explored this type of analysis, it became clear that terminology is often…
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Glossary of Commercial Real Estate Terms (Updated Apr 2024)

Glossary of Commercial Real Estate Terms Welcome to the A.CRE Glossary of Commercial Real Estate Terms, a practitioner's guide to the most common terms in CRE. This is an ever-growing list of commercial real estate terms and definitions that…
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Watch Me Build – Industrial Offering Memorandum Analyzer Custom GPT

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…
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Modeling a Property Tax Abatement in Real Estate (Updated Jan 2024)

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…
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LBO vs CRE Acquisition Models and Using LBO Structure to Acquire CRE

In the world of investment and finance, models play an integral role in guiding decision-making processes, evaluating risk, and forecasting returns. Two such influential models are the Leveraged Buyout (LBO) Model and the Commercial Real Estate…