An important component in any acquisition, development, and value-add model is the Sources and Uses of Capital section. Of course, how the sources and uses are modeled and how those cash flows are visualized will vary from one model to the next. But no model is complete without an accurate estimation of the sources and […]
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 that has come up several times in our Accelerator Q&A. So, I thought it worthwhile to write a […]
The A.CRE Geocoding Excel Add-in uses the Google Geocoding API to automatically convert a given address to latitude and longitude coordinates, or to convert a given latitude and longitude coordinate to an address. The add-in makes auto-populating latitude and longitude (or address) in Excel easy. It includes various features to help add or change the […]
As we enter a new year, it’s an ideal moment for CRE professionals to recalibrate and prepare for the challenges ahead – for some of you that means applying for new jobs. First impressions matter a lot in the job search, and for most job applications that first impression is made with the cover letter. […]
When building a real estate financial pro forma, it’s important to model for and include a summary of various return and risk metrics. Among the different return metrics, the internal rate of return (IRR) – both on an unlevered and levered basis – is one of the more important metrics to include in your analysis. One issue common to […]
Several times in the last month, I’ve been asked to tackle an interesting real estate financial modeling challenge – pare actual construction draw cash flows with s-curve cash flow forecasts to create an Actuals + Forecast Construction Draw schedule. The real challenge in this exercise, is to have the actual construction draws transition into the […]
As we approach the end of the year, it’s a time many of us pause to reflect and plan for the future. In my own career, I’ve always found the transition into a new year to be a prime opportunity for setting ambitious yet achievable goals. This year, I took a slightly different approach. Inspired by […]
Across a 22+ year career in the industry, I’ve encountered a range of complex scenarios that traditional metrics sometimes struggle to accurately capture. A case in point that has been top of mind for me recently is a weakness in the Equity Multiple, a metric fundamental to our understanding of investment performance but often lacking […]
In commercial real estate investing, the ability to forecast an asset’s potential cash flows, anticipate market trends and make accurate predictions is essential – especially in an environment of flat or rising rates. This skill, sometimes referred to as ‘superforecasting,’ is something I’ve been actively working to master in my own career. One of my […]
Generally speaking, equity real estate investors spend their time modeling the upside while their debt partners spend their time modeling the downside. Equity investors generally focus on an investment’s internal rate of return, cash-on-cash return, equity multiple and other return metrics while debt investors focus on debt coverage, loan to value, debt yield and refinance […]
I feel a personal sense of urgency around mastering generative AI for use in real estate. It’s clear to me that this technology will fundamentally change how we operate within the industry, and I want to ensure I’m on the front end of that change. As a result, I’m regularly taking courses that expand my […]
Traditionally in commercial real estate, each organization builds its own proprietary sales comp database and then gives its analysts access to that database in order to perform comp analysis. As AI becomes more and more important, pairing the analyst team with AI tools to speed/improve that real estate analysis is essential. Thus, at the individual […]
In early 2023, we here at A.CRE began exploring use cases for AI in commercial real estate. Since that time, we have released nine such posts covering topics such as using AI in the real estate job search, using AI to expand on Excel’s capabilities, using AI for real estate research, etc. However, this post […]
If you’re an A.CRE reader, you know we’re actively exploring the numerous use cases for generative AI in commercial real estate. As part of those efforts, we’ve used ChatGPT to help us build a custom Excel add-in for CRE professionals, used ChatGPT as an analyst to assess sale comps and create a lease abstract, asked […]
Here’s the scenario. You’re a real estate developer. You spot a prime parcel of land that would be perfect for your real estate project. So you approach the owner of the land about selling and she says, “Okay, bring me an offer.” How much do you pay? What is the land even worth to you? […]