An Excel real estate model for multifamily, without the workbook upkeep

An inherited workbook is someone else's logic. Insert a row and a total can keep summing the old range, and nothing tells you. Meanwhile the versions pile up as email attachments with names like v7_final_FINAL.xlsx.

Excel is still the reference point, and it's still where the numbers can land. The upkeep is what we took out.

Deals start from a template. Take over a line as Default, Hardcode, Alternate method (where offered) or Custom formula (expense and budget lines only), with a plain-English readback.

Custom formulas use a fixed subset of Excel syntax (IF/AND/OR/NOT, MIN/MAX/ABS/ROUND, SUM/AVERAGE) and reference named variables.

Lines you take over are flagged on the line with ◆, and the inspector shows "Impact if reverted" so you can see what your call is worth.

One calculation engine computes every figure. Construction interest and fees are solved together with total cost, with no circular references. The loan is sized as the smallest of LTC, LTV, DSCR, debt yield and any stated amount, with the binding constraint named. More on multifamily loan sizing.

Save a model at any point, compare any two versions line by line, and restore an earlier one.

Every version is saved, compared and restorable; each changed line shows who changed it, the day and why, and the deal's Activity log records what happened, by whom and when.

There's no full-workbook import. You start from a multifamily template, and spreadsheet import covers a rent roll or unit mix only (.csv, .tsv or .xlsx).

1. Pick acquisition or development.
2. Import or enter the rent roll or unit mix.
3. Take over the lines where your view differs from the template.
4. Share a private copy, or export to Excel.

Export any version to Excel as a snapshot of CRE Build's figures; row totals are SUM formulas, and the model itself recalculates in CRE Build, not in the workbook. Every other cell is a plain value.

Share a private copy with your partners, investors or lender by email address. They sign up free, get Pro and work in their own copy. When they change something, it comes back to you as a proposal you accept or decline. When you publish an update, they can take the new version. Your model only changes when you say so. See lender review.

Example: taking over one expense line on a sample 120-unit acquisition. Invented round numbers.

In a workbook: repairs and maintenance sits in row 41 as =Units*450. You insert a row above it for a new expense, the operating-expense total still sums the old range, and NOI is off by a line. Nothing flags it.

In CRE Build:

1. Template default for repairs and maintenance (example): $450/unit × 120 units = $54,000/yr.
2. Your view is $400/unit with a $50,000 floor, so you take over the line with a Custom formula. Illustrative formula; the variable name is for illustration only: MAX(400 * Units, 50000)
3. Result: 400 × 120 = $48,000, so the floor applies: $50,000/yr.
4. The line is flagged ◆ as a deviation from the template, with a plain-English readback. "Impact if reverted" shows what going back to the $54,000 default does: +$4,000 opex, −$4,000 NOI.
5. NOI, the loan and the returns update from the one engine. No ranges to re-point.

Start your next multifamily deal in CRE Build, not a new workbook. Pro is free.