Real estate modelling, tests and interviews, explained
Short articles from the CRE Modelling team on how the models are built, what the tests ask, and how to get into the investment side.
- Modelling
What is a DCF analysis in real estate modelling?
How you answer questions like this can be the key to landing a position in real estate rather than re-entering the applicant pool.
- Careers
The three mistakes students make trying to get a job in real estate
The same three missteps come up again and again among students trying to get into real estate.
- Careers
Three daily habits to break into real estate
Eighty minutes a day. In two months you are a different candidate.
- Modelling
How to stress test a real estate deal
One of the toughest questions in a real estate acquisitions interview is how you stress test a deal. Here is the framework.
- Interview questions
How do you value a stabilised office asset versus a value-add deal?
One of the toughest valuation questions asked in a real estate interview, and how to answer it.
- Modelling
How lenders size a loan: LTV, DSCR and ICR
Your model says the deal works. Your lender says it does not. Both are right: you sized the debt wrong.
- Modelling
How a promote works in a real estate waterfall
The promote is the most misunderstood line in real estate finance, and it is the one that decides how everybody behaves.
- Interview questions
What is the most important variable in a real estate financial model?
In a real estate investments interview you will often be asked which variable has the greatest impact on a property’s performance.
- Careers
Do you need financial modelling to break into real estate?
It’s not a must-have, but it significantly increases your chances, and it helps you do the job once you land it.
- Careers
The mistakes students make in real estate interviews
Even the brightest students make basic errors in real estate interviews, and interviews are hard to come by.
- Interview questions
How do rising interest rates affect cap rates and property values?
One of the most common technical questions in real estate private equity interviews, with a simple, effective way to answer it.
- Modelling
How to set the exit cap rate in a real estate model
One assumption is doing 60 percent of the work in your model, and most people set it by feel.
Reading is the easy part.
Sit the free modelling test and see where you stand, then watch the finished model built on video.