Real Estate Financial Modeling Accelerator (Updated Feb 2023)
Prior to launching the Accelerator program, Michael and I fielded email after email requesting a more structured real estate financial modeling training program on the site.
Over the years, we've covered hundreds of real estate modeling…
Excel Tip: Copy Worksheets between Identical Models (Updated Mar 2023)
From time to time, I come across modeling situations that Excel does not have built-in functionality to address. One particular situation I come across regularly, involves needing to transfer the contents of a worksheet, including all inputs,…
Using OpenAI’s ChatGPT to Research Real Estate Data
The third blog post in this series on how to use ChatGPT in commercial real estate. The first step in real estate underwriting is the collection and aggregation of data or information. That data or information is then process, analyzed, and…
Using OpenAI’s ChatGPT to Create an Excel Macro for a Real Estate Model
At some point in the past few months, you've undoubtedly heard about ChatGPT. It seems everyone is talking about it. But how useful is the tool actually? And in particular, how useful is it to real estate financial modeling professionals?
In…
Create A Dynamic Revenue Row to Calculate Multiple Tenant Leases (Updated Nov 2022)
I recently received an email from one of our readers asking how to create a dynamic revenue row for a pro forma that can capture rent changes for multiple tenants. I thought that this would make a great post for the site and would be a good…
Scenario Analysis Tool using the Equity Waterfall Model (UPDATED MAY 2022)
I received a question this morning asking how to use scenario (or sensitivity) analysis with our Real Estate Equity Waterfall Model. I started to answer the question via email, decided to build an Excel file to go along with my answer, and ultimately…
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,…
Hide and Unhide Tabs using Drop-down Menus in Excel (UPDATED MAY 2022)
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…
Setting Up a New Real Estate Financial Model – Date and Period Headers Plus Formatting (Updated Apr 2022)
We've spent a lot of time here discussing and sharing different real estate models, and we've received a ton of feedback from our readers as a result. In some of that feedback we've received, several people have asked what period and date rows…
Convert Monthly Cash Flows to Quarterly and Annual Cash Flows (Updated Mar 2022)
Over the past few years, I've been working to build an ARGUS DCF alternative in Excel - or otherwise known here as the A.CRE All-in-One (Ai1) Model. As I've worked on that model, I've been jotting down modeling techniques I use and think would…
The Definitive Guide to Microsoft Excel for Real Estate (Updated Dec 2021)
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.…
S-Curve Forecasting in Real Estate Development (Updated Sep 2021)
One of the reasons Michael and I blog, is to force ourselves to be continually learning. I built the first version of my real estate waterfall model, because I wanted to better understand the mechanics of modeling an equity waterfall with IRR…
Bite-Sized CRE Lessons – A.CRE 30 Second Video Tutorials
As we continue to build out our A.CRE 101 series and our Glossary of Commercial Real Estate terms, we've started to supplement these initiatives with short (<30 second) video clips on how to do various CRE calculations and modeling tasks…
Watch Me Build – Custom Rent Schedule Module
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…
Custom Function to Auto-Populate Latitude and Longitude in Excel (Updated 2021)
When analyzing real estate investments in Excel, it's often necessary to include the latitude and longitude coordinates of the properties we're modeling. To do this, most of us open up Google Maps, or some other mapping tool, and find the…
Best Practices in Real Estate Financial Modeling (Updated Mar 2021)
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…