Building CRE Pro Formas in Excel
Model any CRE deal from a blank spreadsheet
A hands-on Excel workshop. You'll build a complete institutional-quality pro forma from scratch: rent roll, expense growth assumptions, debt service, levered and unlevered returns, sensitivity tables, and tornado charts. Downloadable template included.
Download the Building CRE Pro Formas in Excel Workbook
Printable PDF with exercises, worksheets, and fill-in notes designed to go alongside every lesson in this course.
What you'll learn
- Structure a CRE pro forma with inputs, calcs, and outputs cleanly separated
- Model rent growth, vacancy, expense inflation, and reversion value
- Build a monthly loan amortization schedule and compute debt service coverage
- Create sensitivity tables on cap rate, rent growth, and loan terms
- Download and use the MaxLife pro forma template on your own deals
Lessons
- 01
Pro Forma Structure — Inputs, Calcs, and Outputs
How to lay out a CRE pro forma in Excel so it's auditable, flexible, and fast to build — the three-section discipline every institutional model follows.
14 min - 02
Building the Revenue Side — Rent Roll, Escalations, Vacancy, Growth
How to model the revenue line items in a CRE pro forma — base rent, escalations, vacancy, bad debt, and other income — without falling into the optimism trap.
14 min - 03
Modeling Operating Expenses — Line by Line
How to project operating expenses in a CRE pro forma with the right growth rates, the right categories, and a realistic view of what actually costs what.
13 min - 04
The Loan Amortization Schedule — Monthly P&I, DSCR, and Balloon
How to build a monthly loan amortization schedule in Excel, compute debt service coverage ratio, and handle balloon maturities on a typical CRE loan.
13 min - 05
Calculating Returns — IRR, Equity Multiple, NPV, and Cash-on-Cash
How to wire the outputs section of a CRE pro forma — unlevered IRR, levered IRR, equity multiple, NPV, and cash-on-cash — using the right Excel formulas on the right cash flows.
12 min - 06
Sensitivity Tables and Tornado Charts
How to use Excel Data Tables to stress-test a CRE pro forma across ranges of key assumptions, and how to build a tornado chart to rank drivers by impact.
12 min - 07
Full Template Walkthrough — Building a Complete Model End to End
A complete walkthrough of building a CRE pro forma for a 24-unit value-add multifamily deal — from blank spreadsheet to fully stressed institutional-quality model.
20 min
Up next — Course 06
Market & Submarket Analysis
How to pick the right MSA, the right submarket, and the right corner