Investing in a Marina – Is it Worth It?
The basic premise of a commercial real estate investment is this: a property is purchased, the space within it is leased to rent paying tenants,
Investors
Top Real Estate Markets for the Billionaire Space Race
On July 11th, 2021 UK entrepreneur, Virgin Galactic founder, and billionaire, Sir Richard Branson successfully completed the first private space flight. It lasted roughly an
How to scale your investment business using Bullpen
What you need is a team. However, the ebbs and flows of the real estate investment business make hiring full-time employees risky.
Difference in Core, Core Plus, Value-Add, and Opportunistic Real Estate
Commercial real estate investment strategies can be broken down into four categories: Core, Core Plus, Value-Add, and Opportunistic. These terms are used by commercial real estate investors as shorthand for the risk profile, quality, location and strategy of an individual property.
Everything you should know about the operating expense ratio in real estate
The operating expense ratio, or “OER”, is a simple formula that’s easy to calculate and reveals how efficiently a property runs on a day-to-day basis.
6 Steps to Scope Your Project and Win More Gigs
A project’s cost is a function of the number of hours that it takes to complete it so providing an accurate estimate is critically important. Get it right and you’ll deliver within the client’s budget. Get it wrong and you risk upsetting them.
8 Ways to Level Up Your Multifamily Real Estate Modeling
Use the following 8 tips to level up your multifamily real estate modeling!
Ground Lease Basics for Commercial Real Estate Investors
A Ground Lease, sometimes called a Land Lease, is a long term lease whereby a property owner agrees to lease their land to an investor/developer.
Lease Abstracts 101 (Download a Free Template)
Most commercial leases are dense and complex. A lease abstract makes the information more digestible by outlining pertinent financial, business, and legal provisions.
Pros and Cons of Using Google Sheets for Real Estate Financial Models
If you’ve been following Bullpen’s blog for a while, you’ve probably started to notice that we’re transitioning our excel-based real estate financial models to Google Sheets.
Everything You Need to Know About CAM Charges
CAM charges describe the expenses a commercial property owner bills back to tenants in return for maintaining shared spaces. CAM is one of the most
Use tenant retention curves to build better multifamily developments
Real estate development is like walking through a minefield with a 5-year-old map. It’s fraught with risks and unknown variables. Underwriting models do a great
An underwriting tool you should consider, Argus + Excel
Financial modeling is the most foundational skill in commercial real estate. However, the underwriting process usually involves an underwriting tool that is filled with headaches …
Everything You Need to Know About Buying REO Real Estate
REO (Real Estate Owned) real estate refers to bank and angency owned properties transferred to the bank/agency due to a foreclosure or breach of lending contract.
Why I Started Break Into CRE, feat. Justin Kivel
Justin Kivel, Founder of Break Into CRE, has done what many entrepreneurs dream of doing, evolving an idea into a successful business (from 0 to
3 Multifamily Technologies You Need Post-COVID
There are many questions as to what the post-COVID “new normal” will look like for multifamily operations. I would submit that the “new normal” has
6 Multifamily Underwriting Essentials That You Should Know
Many believe that multifamily is the easiest of all asset classes to underwrite. While this may be true, multifamily properties have their own set of
Improved Real Estate Acquisition Checklist
When acquiring improved commercial real estate, you have many things to worry about. The first step in a successful acquisition is to be and stay
Definitive Guide to Creating a Real Estate Investor Presentation
The following blog is a compilation of teaching notes and best practices for the creation of an institutional quality real estate investor presentation from my
3 Reasons Co-working is in Trouble
In 2010, there were 600 standalone co-working locations – today, there are nearly 50,000. We can expect that period of exponential growth to come to
Site Visits — 3 Hidden Things Can Kill Your Deal
Site visits are a key component of due diligence and can often be overlooked. A wise buyer will dig deep on environmental hazards, ingress/egress and easements, parking, and more. These principles apply across real estate asset classes and should be considered for any acquisition.
Retail Disposition Model
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of free investment models online to help maneuver the seemingly complex world of commercial real estate valuation. Many of
An Innovative Solution to Loan Guarantees with Daniel Weingarten of LGIS Group
LGIS Group offers the first patented investment-grade insurance coverage against foreclosure and deficiency loss for short term commercial real estate loans. Commercial real estate professionals
How to Create & Manage a Remote Team
There a benefits and drawbacks to creating a remote team, actively building a bridge between communication gaps gives you the benefit of a powerful team in house and remotely.
A Smarter Way to Build Your Team
What is Bullpen? Bullpen connects expert commercial real estate freelancers with top companies who value time and efficiency. Like a staffing agency? Not really. Bullpen
A Deep Dive on Data Center Investing with Lawrence Vo
This piece is an excerpt from a recent interview with Lawrence Vo, a Bullpen freelance analyst and data center expert. In the interview, we discussed
Top 10 Commercial Real Estate Influencers on Youtube
Content is king. Commercial real estate gurus are embracing the new age of content marketing, creating impressive online followings. These content creating influencers use podcasts,
Top 5 Real Estate Analyst Mistakes
Your commercial real estate analyst might be good, but nobody is immune to human error. Long hours and monotonous PowerPoints will cause even the most
Build a Low-Cost, High Performance Team
The situation … You run a small real estate investment/development organization. You have a ton of work … modeling new deals, pursuing relationships with brokers,
Top 10 Real Estate Modeling Videos on Youtube
Why pay for a degree in real estate when you can learn how to model commercial real estate from the best on Youtube? We’ve compiled
Yield (Cash on Cash) and Why It Matters
What is it? Yield (also known as Cash on Cash Return) is a popular commercial real estate return metric. It measures the cash paid to
All You Need to Know: Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
What is it? IRR, or Internal Rate of Return, is the most commonly used profitability metric in commercial real estate. Why is it so popular?
The Art of Financial Engineering
When underwriting your property, an analyst can “engineer” an investment IRR by adjusting the debt or business strategy in the pro forma.
Definitive Guide to Presenting an Underwriting Model
Think of a car manufacturer building a new model. Now, think about the team required: marketing, strategy, engineering, etc. In commercial real estate, the real
Top 3 CRE Analyst Tasks
Analysts work on a vast array of tasks, but what are the top 3 commercial real estate analyst tasks? Using data collected from hundreds of
5 Pro Tips to Master A Bullpen Analyst Phone Interview
As a Bullpen freelance analysts, you’ll regularly meet with potential clients on the phone. During the phone interview, clients want to learn about you and
CRE Investment Alternatives: K-Deals and K-Certificates
Alternative (or non-traditional) assets are important for portfolio diversification because they allow investors to distribute risk across several investments, rather than build their portfolio (and
Top 5 Mistakes Made by Multifamily Value-Add Investors
1. Account for adequate vacancy and downtime during renovation period A rolling renovation of multifamily units creates a sustained period of vacancy in the property.
Top 7 Types of Commercial Leases
A commercial lease governs the relationship between a landlord and a commercial tenant. There are seven main types of commercial leases, each of which comes
Beginners Guide: Common Commercial Real Estate Return Metrics
INTERNAL RATE OF RETURN (“IRR”) IRR is a return metric that considers the time value of money and the impact of re-invested distributions. It is
