A.CRE 101 - Basic Concepts in Commercial Real Estate https://www.adventuresincre.com/re-education/a-cre-101-basic-concepts-in-commercial-real-estate/ Real Estate: AI, Financial Modeling, Careers, Education Mon, 25 Aug 2025 23:37:38 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.2 https://www.adventuresincre.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/green-background-36x36.png A.CRE 101 - Basic Concepts in Commercial Real Estate https://www.adventuresincre.com/re-education/a-cre-101-basic-concepts-in-commercial-real-estate/ 32 32 The Real Estate Site Visit Checklist: What to Look For and Other Thoughts https://www.adventuresincre.com/quick-site-visit-checklist-real-estate/ Mon, 25 Aug 2025 20:48:38 +0000 https://www.adventuresincre.com/?p=1177901 In our business, initial assessments are most often made from a distance. We rely on Google Maps satellite images, broker packages, demographic reports, street view, and more to evaluate a multi-million-dollar property. And these assessments generally come before we ever step foot on site. Which is why that the in-person site visit is so crucial. […]

The post The Real Estate Site Visit Checklist: What to Look For and Other Thoughts appeared first on Adventures in CRE.

]]> Real Estate Financial Modeling Accelerator (Updated July 2025) https://www.adventuresincre.com/accelerator-introduction/ Thu, 31 Jul 2025 14:00:58 +0000 https://www.adventuresincre.com/?p=23171 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 topics in our blog, published hours of video, and shared 70+ real estate Excel models in our Library. Nonetheless, no matter how many posts […]

The post Real Estate Financial Modeling Accelerator (Updated July 2025) appeared first on Adventures in CRE.

]]> 30/360, Actual/365, and Actual/360 – How Lenders Calculate Interest on CRE Loans – Some Important Insights (Updated July 2025) https://www.adventuresincre.com/lenders-calcs/ Mon, 21 Jul 2025 12:00:05 +0000 https://www.adventuresincre.com/?p=2650 (Updated August 7, 2019 to include a Watch Me Build video and Downloadable file) Commercial real estate lenders commonly calculate loans in three ways: 30/360, Actual/365 (aka 365/365), and Actual/360 (aka 365/360). Real estate professionals should be aware of these methods if they want to understand the real interest rate as well as the total amount of interest […]

The post 30/360, Actual/365, and Actual/360 – How Lenders Calculate Interest on CRE Loans – Some Important Insights (Updated July 2025) appeared first on Adventures in CRE.

]]> Watch Me Build a Residential Land Development Model (Updated June 2025) https://www.adventuresincre.com/watch-me-build-residential-land-development-model/ Sun, 08 Jun 2025 18:30:54 +0000 https://www.adventuresincre.com/?p=85657 Over the years, we’ve created a sizable library of Watch Me Build videos covering Excel models for various real estate investment and property types. However, we’ve yet to create a Watch Me Build involving for-sale product. So this weekend, I thought I’d sit down and record myself building a residential land development model. The exercise […]

The post Watch Me Build a Residential Land Development Model (Updated June 2025) appeared first on Adventures in CRE.

]]> Best Practices in Real Estate Financial Modeling (Updated Nov 2024) https://www.adventuresincre.com/re-modeling-best-practices/ Fri, 22 Nov 2024 10:21:01 +0000 https://www.adventuresincre.com/?p=18522 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 list combines industry conventions for modeling in Excel, with various suggestions specific […]

The post Best Practices in Real Estate Financial Modeling (Updated Nov 2024) appeared first on Adventures in CRE.

]]> Learning Real Estate Financial Modeling in Excel (Updated Oct 2024) https://www.adventuresincre.com/fundamentals-of-modeling-real-estate-in-excel/ Fri, 18 Oct 2024 12:00:42 +0000 http://www.adventuresincre.com/?p=833 We’re often asked by our readers how we learned to be proficient in real estate financial modeling. The question usually arises because the person wants to know how to model real estate in Excel to either land a job in commercial real estate (e.g., private equity, development, acquisition, debt) or to analyze their own deals. […]

The post Learning Real Estate Financial Modeling in Excel (Updated Oct 2024) appeared first on Adventures in CRE.

]]> Watch Me Build a Dynamic Mortgage Amortization Table in Excel (Updated September 2024) https://www.adventuresincre.com/excel-mortgage-amortization-table-model/ Wed, 25 Sep 2024 18:30:42 +0000 http://www.spencerburton.org/blog/?p=218 There are a few basic, yet fundamental, real estate modeling skills you must master before anyone will take you seriously as a real estate professional. Building a mortgage amortization schedule is one of them. Virtually every model you create will require this skill – or some variation of what you do when you build an amortization table. […]

The post Watch Me Build a Dynamic Mortgage Amortization Table in Excel (Updated September 2024) appeared first on Adventures in CRE.

]]> Deep Dive – Land Acquisition and Assemblage (Updated September 2024) https://www.adventuresincre.com/deep-dive-land-acquisition/ Mon, 23 Sep 2024 18:45:43 +0000 https://www.adventuresincre.com/?p=17064 This is a topic I’m all too familiar with. You see, I cut my teeth in real estate largely sourcing and negotiating residential and mixed-use land acquisition opportunities.  I’ve put land deals together both as a fiduciary and as a principal, both in the United States and abroad. In this deep dive on land acquisition […]

The post Deep Dive – Land Acquisition and Assemblage (Updated September 2024) appeared first on Adventures in CRE.

]]> Watch Me Build a 3-Tier Real Estate Equity Waterfall Model (Updated Aug 2024) https://www.adventuresincre.com/watch-build-equity-waterfall/ Tue, 27 Aug 2024 18:00:03 +0000 https://www.adventuresincre.com/?p=8489 As I’ve mentioned in other Watch Me Build posts, one way to become a better real estate financial modeling professional, is to watch other professionals model. Thus, the more exposure you can get to other’s methods, the more adept a real estate professional you will become. This is especially the case with modeling real estate […]

The post Watch Me Build a 3-Tier Real Estate Equity Waterfall Model (Updated Aug 2024) appeared first on Adventures in CRE.

]]> A.CRE 101: How To Use The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) Method To Value Income Producing Property (Updated Aug 2024) https://www.adventuresincre.com/discounted-cash-flow-method-dcf/ Fri, 23 Aug 2024 13:00:22 +0000 https://www.adventuresincre.com/?p=7957 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 in a DCF to look at an investment can be looked at as […]

The post A.CRE 101: How To Use The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) Method To Value Income Producing Property (Updated Aug 2024) appeared first on Adventures in CRE.

]]> Using SUMPRODUCT to Calculate Weighted Average in Real Estate (Updated Aug 2024) https://www.adventuresincre.com/sumproduct-weighted-average-real-estate/ Sun, 04 Aug 2024 14:00:42 +0000 https://www.adventuresincre.com/?p=120915 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 I continue to use it at least once a week to this day. So in […]

The post Using SUMPRODUCT to Calculate Weighted Average in Real Estate (Updated Aug 2024) appeared first on Adventures in CRE.

]]> Using the Cash-on-Cash Return in Real Estate Investment Analysis (Updated Aug 2024) https://www.adventuresincre.com/cash-on-cash-return/ Sat, 03 Aug 2024 14:30:35 +0000 https://www.adventuresincre.com/?p=8577 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, if you will, on when this metric is helpful to use in your analysis […]

The post Using the Cash-on-Cash Return in Real Estate Investment Analysis (Updated Aug 2024) appeared first on Adventures in CRE.

]]> The Road To A Stabilized NOI – Underwriting Real Estate Capital Reserves (Case Study – Case Only) https://www.adventuresincre.com/the-road-to-a-stabilized-noi-capital-reserves-case-study/ Tue, 30 Jul 2024 13:00:11 +0000 https://www.adventuresincre.com/the-road-to-a-stabilized-noi-concessions-in-real-estate-underwriting-copy/ 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 Expense) or below the line (i.e., as a Capital Expenditure)? And what is the purpose of the Capital […]

The post The Road To A Stabilized NOI – Underwriting Real Estate Capital Reserves (Case Study – Case Only) appeared first on Adventures in CRE.

]]> Analyzing a Real Estate Investment from the Perspective of an LP https://www.adventuresincre.com/analyzing-real-estate-investment-perspective-lp/ Thu, 25 Jul 2024 09:00:19 +0000 https://www.adventuresincre.com/?p=105929 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 evaluate a deal from the perspective of an LP, as […]

The post Analyzing a Real Estate Investment from the Perspective of an LP appeared first on Adventures in CRE.

]]> Watch Me Solve a REPE Technical Interview Modeling Test (Updated July 2024) https://www.adventuresincre.com/watch-model-real-estate-technical-interview-test/ Wed, 17 Jul 2024 12:00:01 +0000 https://www.adventuresincre.com/?p=8386 What better way to spend some free time over the Thanksgiving holiday, than to record myself completing a real estate private equity technical interview exercise! While I’ve offered help with the real estate technical interview in the past, I’ve never just grabbed an actual technical interview case study and walked our readers through how I […]

The post Watch Me Solve a REPE Technical Interview Modeling Test (Updated July 2024) appeared first on Adventures in CRE.

]]>