Real Estate Financial Modeling Consulting and Auditing Services

REFM Consulting helps you achieve analytical clarity, make smart decisions and present them with confidence.

Consulting clients include

What clients say

Having REFM as part of our team enabled us to move mountains in Excel, all without losing clarity of vision or sacrificing aesthetics in our analyses.

Jon McAvoyVice President & Director of Finance, PN Hoffman

It was a pleasure working with REFM to produce Excel-based investment tools that have been deployed across our group nationally.

Thomas HenrikssonCFO, Skanska USA Commercial Development Inc.

Services offered using Excel and Valuate®

  • creation, customization and improvement of real estate pro-formas and financial models for transactions of all types
    • development
    • acquisition/disposition
    • refinancing
    • fund-level modeling
  • financial due diligence/feasibility and highest and best use analysis
  • partnership structuring and profit sharing analysis (preferred return, promote and waterfall dynamics)
  • auditing of financial models for accuracy

Auditing of Excel-based models includes

  • exposing all hidden/grouped rows and columns globally throughout file
  • confirming all values formatted as inputs are in fact inputs
  • confirming all math is correct: nothing is missing, nothing extraneous is present, and calculations match convention
  • confirming all changes to inputs, including toggles, impact model as expected they would
  • confirming all labels are consistent with the associated data
  • running same property cash flows in an internal REFM model to validate that key unlevered and levered net cash flow and IRR outputs are generally consistent with client model outputs

Why choose REFM?

  • We know the right questions to ask to get a precise scope of work defined up front
  • We’ll make you look really good to your stakeholders
  • We do not invest directly in real estate, so we do not pose any potential conflicts to client businesses

Sample client work

Client Functions: Master Developer, Vertical Developer, Owner

Client Challenge: Raise a combination of debt and equity to fund the Master Development of a major urban mixed-use project

REFM Deliverable: Conversion of client’s existing annual-based 38-tab Excel model, which addressed the analysis solely by each of the 9 unique land uses, into monthly-based analyses for the individual parcels, each of which was mixed-use in nature, and roll-up into a master model that combined cash flows from the horizontal and vertical developments

REFM Excel Model Templates leveraged: Mixed-Use Development for Apartment, Condominium, Office and Hotel

Client Functions: Developer, Owner

Client Challenge: The need to vet calculations of their internal model

REFM Deliverable: Audit report on mathematical differences between results from REFM Template and results from internal model

REFM Excel Model Template leveraged: Mixed-Use Apartment Building Development

Client Function: Commercial Land Broker

Client Challenge: Educate and persuade a long-term land holder with little financial sophistication to pursue a joint venture with a local hotel developer through a 99-year ground lease

REFM Deliverable: Annual-based Excel financial projection model and associated visual aids that communicated the ongoing and overall financial benefit to being a joint venture partner in the development transaction

REFM Excel Model Template leveraged: Landlord Lease Analysis

Client Functions: Master Developer, Vertical Developer

Client Challenge: Raise investment fund to execute on a strategy to revitalize 10 downtowns in concert with the municipal government and local land owners

REFM Deliverable: Monthly-based Excel financial projection model and associated Powerpoint slide deck that communicated the execution of the strategy

REFM Excel Model Templates leveraged: Mixed-Use Apartment Building Development, Hotel Development

Client Functions: Land and Housing Developer

Client Challenge: Complex 40-year time horizon modeling of both land development and lot sales to third parties as well as in-house vertical housing development

REFM Deliverable: 10,000-lot (36,000-acre) 25-phase land development model with master cash flow, to which 10 individual housing development models were linked

REFM Excel Model Templates leveraged: Land Development, Housing Development

See our Consulting and Auditing Services brochure

 

Download in PDF

Ready to schedule an initial phone call?

Purchase prepaid consulting time

Note: Licensing of REFM templates is available at an additional cost to the price of the labor packages shown below.

Registration is open for April Excel Bootcamp Webinars Register Now
left to take 50% off with coupon code: yearend50