What is the best Commercial RE deal analyzer?

Question

I am in the process of enhancing my underwriting skills/knowledge and I am looking for a good Commercial Real Estate underwriting model and training and would like to hear which one is your preferred one with the best cost/benefit proposition. Please let me know the one you use and why. I have heard good comments of:

1. Michael Blank, with some training modules (https://themichaelblank.com/syndicated-deal-analyzer/)

2. Mark Kenney, (https://thinkmultifamily.com/the-smart-apartment-analyzer-by-think-multifamily/)

3. Just knew about this one too (https://www.roimuse.com/)

Thanks

Jon Schwartz · Answer

@Omar Gonzalez, check out:

www.adventuresincre.com

They post all of their models for free, post YouTube videos that go over the basics, and offer a low-price (like, $300) online course if you want to dig deeper into modeling.

Do NOT pay for any of the gurus’ models. The gurus are looking to profit from you one way or another — and selling Excel spreadsheets is certainly a way!

Adventures in CRE also has a great podcast. It’s more geared toward commercial real-estate professionals, but it’s great knowledge.

John LaBanca · Answer

I'm totally biased because it's my company, but you should try fundsrequired.com. You can try the live demo instantly from the website, so it's easy to see if it works for you.

Dallon Schultz · Answer

@Omar Gonzalez there are a handful of deal analyzers out there. Some have mentioned it is good to start from scratch and build your own. That is not a bad idea. It will require lots of time and effort but will allow you to really understand a lot of the formulas and concepts in analyzing a deal. With that being said it may be easy to also make mistakes or not know what to build into your spreadsheet. We have used 3 different spread sheets and in a way combined aspects of all three of them into one which we currently use. The one we liked the best was created by David Toupin with Obsidian Capital. I believe he's based out of TX as well. I think we paid around $150 and felt like it contained a lot of the important stuff and was fairly easy to navigate. Here is a link to their page where he also has a video talking about it. Might be worth taking a look at.

One thing I think almost everyone can agree on is that it will be hard to find "the one" analysis tool that works for you and your criteria. You may very well take bits and pieces of multiple models and create one that works best for you and how you analyze deals and that's ok!

Happy investing!

Austin Sine · Answer

Hi @Omar Gonzalez -- I have heard great things about the Michael Blank SDA. If you're are strictly looking to learn - there's no better way than building a simple model from scratch. You will know it in and out. I recommend adventuresincre.com videos for guidance.Keep it simple. Some of these models tend to over complicate things early on. Hope this helps!

Omar Gonzalez · Answer

Thanks @Jonathan Schwartz for sharing that resource. Will definitely have a look. I didn't know about their podcast and seems a great resource as well. I just subscribed.

Omar Gonzalez · Answer

@Tom Wagner, you are right. Plus I have seen many tools out there all the way from the excel sheet to complete educational packages, just not sure it is worth the price.

Tom Wagner · Answer

Following! I've heard good things about those two tools as well. And I'd love to see some training or educational materials about the differences of SFH buy and hold analysis vs multifamily analysis, so if anyone has any resources they'd recommend please share.

One thing that bugs me, though: when a company expects you to drop hundreds of dollars on an analysis tool without a free limited version or detailed walkthrough. Prove to me your tool(s) have value before asking for my money!

What is the best Commercial RE deal analyzer?

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