Entries by Spencer Burton

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Using ChatGPT as a Real Estate Analyst – Sales Comp Analysis (Updated Aug 2023)

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 […]

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ChatGPT vs Bard vs LLaMa Chat (Aug 2023) – AI Chat for CRE Comparison

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 […]

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The Circuit Breaker – How to Fix Circular Reference Errors in Excel

If you’ve spent much time working with elaborate Excel workbooks that rely on iterative calculations to solve formulas with circular logic, you’ve undoubtedly come across a problem where if you accidently put an erroneous value in an input cell that the circular logic relies on, the entire workbook errors out permanently. This can be incredibly frustrating […]

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Commercial Real Estate Deal Sheet

As part of our ongoing series of YouTube Shorts, we recently published a video about the importance of keeping a personal commercial real estate deal sheet (see video below). In this context, a real estate deal sheet is a comprehensive list of investments that a real estate professional has worked on in their career. The […]

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Using ChatGPT as a Real Estate Analyst to Create a Lease Abstract

As you may know, we here at A.CRE have been exploring various use cases for AI in commercial real estate. When ChatGPT plugins were released in May 2023, the tool gained an ability to act like a young real estate analyst; namely to source and organize information. The first such use case showed how connecting […]

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Using ChatGPT to Create Excel Logic #2 – Annual to Monthly Growth

Another post in a growing series on how to use ChatGPT in commercial real estate. In our real estate financial modeling Accelerator program we have a Q&A. Members of the Accelerator ask the A.CRE team questions, and we provide answers. Depending on the complexity/nature of the question, either Arturo, Emilio, Kyle, Michael, or I respond. […]

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Single Family Residential Investment Analysis Model (Updated Apr 2023)

Pre-2008, I bought and sold my fair share of single family homes – both for investment purposes (rental or flips) and to live in. In those days, almost everyone was “investing” in residential real estate – hence the market crash. I personally don’t have any plans to get back into buying and selling homes, beyond […]

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Por Qué Elegí una Maestría en Bienes Inmuebles en Lugar de un MBA

Volver a la escuela es un compromiso enorme. Primero está el proceso de admisión, que implica pasar horas y horas estudiando para el GMAT o el GRE, rellenar largas solicitudes de admisión, escribir docenas de ensayos sin sentido, preparar y hacer entrevistas de admisión informales y formales, y soportar el estrés de no saber si […]

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Using OpenAI’s ChatGPT to Create Complex Excel Logic

The fourth blog post in this series on how to use ChatGPT in commercial real estate. As real estate financial modeling professionals, we’re often tasked with creating complex logic in Excel. Depending on one’s Excel proficiency, that task used to take anywhere from a few minutes to a few days. In fact, I remember certain […]

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Why I Chose a Masters in Real Estate over an MBA (Updated 2023)

Going back to graduate school is a huge commitment. First there’s the admissions process, which means spending hours and hours studying for the GMAT or GRE, filling out lengthy admissions applications, writing dozens of mindless essays, preparing for and doing informal and formal admissions interviews, and enduring the stress of not knowing if you’re in, or […]

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Student Housing Acquisition Model (Updated Apr 2023)

I’ve spent a fair amount of my career analyzing privately-owned student housing investments. Nevertheless, I’ve yet to share a purpose-built, institutional-quality student housing acquisition model. So, I thought I’d take some time and build a model for this very purpose. To do this, I took my Value-Add Apartment Acquisition model, which has been used by […]