Posts

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Real Estate Financial Modeling Accelerator (Updated November 2019)

Since starting A.CRE, Michael and I have fielded email after email requesting a more structured real estate financial modeling training program on the site. Important Note: We're updating and adding to the Accelerator every week. Since launch,…
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How to Run Monte Carlo Simulations in Excel

So you want to run Monte Carlo simulations in Excel, but your project isn't large enough or you don't do this type of probabilistic analysis enough to warrant buying an expensive add-in. Well, you've come to the right place. Excel's built-in…
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Auto-Populate Latitude and Longitude in Excel (Updated 2019)

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…
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Using the Floating Summary Box in Real Estate Modeling

Over the next few minutes, I'll share a great modeling tip for efficiently visualizing the more salient metrics in your real estate models. Now I should mention, this is a tip I shared a few years ago. But given the complexity of many of the…
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Using the OFFSET Function in Real Estate Financial Modeling

In a previous post, I showed you how to use the OFFSET function to create dynamic lists in Excel. As you become more comfortable using this function in real estate financial modeling, you'll find that it has almost infinite applications when…
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A.CRE 101 - Using Dynamic Data Validation Lists in Real Estate Modeling

One Excel feature real estate financial modeling professionals use often is the data validation list. Where data validation is a method of limiting the possible inputs of a cell, the data validation list limits those inputs to a pre-defined…
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Create a Dynamic Real Estate Chart in Excel

Most of the real estate financial models we've shared over the years are dynamic to analysis period. Meaning, we've included an input to adjust the length of the analysis period, and the model will adjust the results accordingly. This is…
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A Few Indispensable Keyboard Shortcuts for Moving Quickly Around Excel

The more time you spend modeling real estate in Excel, the more important keyboard shortcuts become. It's partly about speed - using keyboard shortcuts is much faster than using the mouse. But it's also about impressing your peers; whether you…
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Excel Speed Tip - Insert or Delete a Row or Column Without a Mouse

Using keyboard shortcuts is essential to improving the speed and efficiency at which you model real estate in Excel. One thing you'll learn early in your CRE career, the more proficient you become in using your keyboard without a mouse to navigate…
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Using Boolean Logic to Model Multiple Generations of Tenant Improvements

Arguably the most powerful, and least appreciated and understood, functionality in Excel is its use of boolean logic. Or in other words, the use of TRUE and FALSE binary logic. This form of logic can be used to dramatically simplify formulas…
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Keyboard Shortcuts I Use Constantly When Modeling in Excel (Formatting)

The more you model real estate in Microsoft Excel, the faster and more accurate you become - and hopefully as a consequence the more valuable you become to real estate employers and investors. Part of the process of mastering real estate financial…
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How to Create Dynamic, In-Cell Buttons and Toggles in Microsoft Excel

Creating intuitive, user-friendly, visually appealing models is one aspect of mastering real estate financial modeling. One way to make your models easy for people to use and more attractive in general is to use dynamic, theme-appropriate, in-cell…
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Convert Monthly Cash Flows to Quarterly and Annual Cash Flows

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…
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Using COUNTIFS, SUMIFS, and AVERAGEIFS Excel Functions in Real Estate Underwriting

Why use COUNTIFS, SUMIFS, and AVERAGEIFS functions in real estate? When real estate analysts first start their careers, they're often required to work with large data sets and to transpose property and portfolio information from one format to…
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The Conditional Weighted Average – SUMPRODUCT with SUMIF

Consider this scenario: you have a 50 tenant rent roll, consisting of various tenant types (i.e. small inline, large inline, junior anchor, anchor, etc.), and you want to calculate the weighted average rent for each tenant type. If I asked you,…
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DateDif: The "Secret" Excel Formula

For one reason or another, there is a perfectly functioning and pretty valuable formula that can be utilized in Excel that Microsoft has chosen to exclude from Excel's list of functions: the DateDif function. This function is a valuable…