Brian DeChesare – BreakingIntoWallStreet – Real Estate and REIT Modeling Course

Brian DeChesare – BreakingIntoWallStreet – Real Estate and REIT Modeling Course is a practical training path for building real-world real estate models in Excel, from individual property acquisitions and developments to public REIT forecasts and valuation. If you want to stop “eyeballing” deals and start making decisions with clean assumptions, clear outputs, and defensible logic, this course is built for that.

You will learn how cash flows really move in real estate: leases drive revenue, expenses follow their own rules, and financing structures can change the outcome more than most people expect. You will also learn what makes REITs different from normal companies, and how those differences affect the financial statements and valuation methods.

The learning style is case-study-driven and practical. Instead of abstract theory, you work through modeling tests and longer “on the job” exercises that mirror the types of analyses used in real estate investing, lending, development, and public-market REIT coverage.

What is the Brian DeChesare – BreakingIntoWallStreet – Real Estate and REIT Modeling Course?

Brian DeChesare – BreakingIntoWallStreet – Real Estate and REIT Modeling Course is an online financial modeling curriculum from Breaking Into Wall Street (BIWS) that covers both sides of real estate analysis: (1) modeling individual properties and deals, and (2) modeling and valuing real estate investment trusts (REITs).

On the property side, the training focuses on cash flow projections, lease-level drivers, and investment decision-making across multiple property types and deal structures. On the REIT side, it focuses on the accounting and business-model differences, forecasting linked to same-store performance and portfolio activity, and valuation methods such as NAV, multiples based on FFO/AFFO, and REIT transaction modeling.

The goal is not to overwhelm you with massive spreadsheets. It is to teach modeling that is detailed enough to be realistic, but still efficient enough to use in time-boxed case studies and real work situations.

What will you learn or achieve?

• How to build property-level pro-formas by linking tenants, rents, expenses, and financing to cash flows and returns.
• How to model lease-level details such as vacancies, renewal probabilities, rent-free periods, concessions, tenant improvements (TIs), leasing commissions (LCs), and reimbursements.
• How to evaluate multiple property types, including multifamily, office, retail, industrial, hotels, and pre-sold condominium developments.
• How to analyze development timelines and the mechanics of construction loans, capitalized interest, refinancing, and exit timing.
• How to calculate key deal metrics such as equity IRR, cash-on-cash returns, DSCR, interest coverage, and debt-yield style measures used by lenders.
• How to build returns waterfalls with multiple tiers, including preferred returns and catch-up logic, so you understand how profits are split in realistic structures.
• How REIT accounting and financial statements differ across geographies, including key U.S. GAAP vs. IFRS differences that affect interpretation.
• How to forecast REIT performance by connecting same-store properties, acquisitions, developments, renovations, and dispositions to revenue and expenses.
• How to value REITs with methods used in practice, including NAV models, comparable multiples (such as P/FFO and P/AFFO), DCF analyses, and dividend-based approaches.
• How to think about capital strategy in REITs, including the practical trade-offs between debt and equity fundraising under different scenarios.
• How REIT M&A modeling differs from standard corporate deals, including analyses such as value creation and contribution-style frameworks.
• How REIT LBO modeling works in the contexts where it applies, including the impact of property assumptions and cap rates on purchase and exit logic.

Who is it for?

This course is a fit for students and professionals aiming for roles that touch real estate investing, lending, development, REIT research, or real estate-focused banking and private equity. It is also useful if you already work with Excel but want a structured, case-study-based method to model properties and REITs with fewer gaps.

It is especially relevant if you want repeatable frameworks: how to go from assumptions to outputs, how to sanity-check results, and how to translate a model into a clear investment recommendation. If your day-to-day work involves evaluating deals or explaining valuation logic to other people, this skill set becomes an advantage.

How does it work?

Brian DeChesare – BreakingIntoWallStreet – Real Estate and REIT Modeling Course is delivered as online, self-paced training built around modeling tests and longer case studies. On the real estate side, the curriculum includes shorter “crash course” style case studies plus more detailed “on the job” style exercises that go deeper into development, acquisitions, renovations, and scenario analysis.

Examples of the property-focused case studies include acquisitions across different property types, an office development model (with flexible refinancing and exit timing), and a hotel acquisition and renovation model that uses multiple operating scenarios. The REIT-focused case studies include both shorter models for learning the fundamentals and longer, realistic exercises that cover 3-statement modeling, valuation, capital strategy decisions, merger modeling, and leveraged buyout analysis within a REIT context.

Because BIWS emphasizes practical modeling, the intended flow is: learn the concept, build the model, interpret the output, and then describe the “why” behind the investment decision. This approach helps you move beyond spreadsheet mechanics and into real analysis.

Benefits

The biggest benefit is modeling confidence. You learn the drivers that actually matter in real estate: lease structures, vacancy dynamics, development timing, refinancing risk, and cap rate sensitivity. That makes your deal evaluation sharper and your recommendations easier to defend.

You also gain cross-coverage flexibility. Many people can model a single property or talk about REITs, but fewer can connect the two. By understanding property-level drivers and REIT-level reporting and valuation, you can move between private-market deal logic and public-market REIT analysis with fewer blind spots.

Finally, the case-study format helps you build speed and structure. You learn to set up a model cleanly, keep assumptions organized, and focus on outputs that support decisions, rather than building complexity that does not change the conclusion.

Prerequisites

You should be comfortable with Excel basics (formulas, formatting, and navigating worksheets) and have a working understanding of accounting and valuation fundamentals. The REIT-focused material is designed to save time by not re-teaching standard corporate modeling from scratch, so prior exposure to the financial statements and basic valuation concepts is strongly recommended.

This training is educational. It does not provide legal, tax, or investment advice, and it does not promise specific financial outcomes. Use qualified professionals for decisions involving real capital, regulations, or taxes.

About the author

Brian DeChesare is the founder of Breaking Into Wall Street (BIWS) and the Mergers & Inquisitions platform. BIWS is known for training that uses real-life modeling tests and case-study formats designed to build practical skills that translate to interviews and on-the-job work.

In this real estate and REIT curriculum, the focus reflects that style: build the model, understand the drivers, and then translate outputs into decisions and communication that other professionals can follow.

Why buy from our online course platform?

Centralize your digital purchases in a single account, keep your history, and access them whenever you want to watch online or download. Plus, you’ll always find courses on our platform at affordable prices.

For a modeling course, repeat access matters. Keeping everything in one place makes it easier to revisit a specific case study before a project, refresh cap rate and lease-driver logic quickly, or re-check a REIT valuation method when you need it most.

Course content / Course curriculum

• Real estate modeling foundations: cash flow projections, lease analysis, and investment recommendations across multiple property types.
• Property modeling case studies that cover acquisitions, development timelines, renovations, and scenario-based underwriting.
• Key drivers and mechanics: rent and expense growth, vacancies, CapEx, tenant improvements (TIs), leasing commissions (LCs), and reserve logic.
• Debt and equity modeling: loan sizing, repayment structures, interest-only periods, and common real estate credit metrics (DSCR, interest coverage, debt yield).
• Returns analysis: equity IRR, cash-on-cash returns, sensitivities, and multi-tier waterfall schedules.
• REIT fundamentals: conceptual and accounting differences (including U.S. and non-U.S. considerations) and how they show up in statements.
• REIT 3-statement forecasting linked to same-store performance and portfolio activity (acquisitions, developments, renovations, dispositions).
• REIT valuation methods: NAV modeling, public multiples (including FFO/AFFO-based metrics), and other commonly used approaches in REIT analysis.
• REIT capital strategy case studies that analyze debt vs. equity funding decisions across scenarios and target constraints.
• REIT transaction modeling: merger modeling concepts and REIT-specific analyses, plus LBO-style modeling where applicable.

Access the course now if you want a case-study-based system to model real estate deals and REIT valuations with more structure, better drivers, and cleaner decision-making.

Downloadable Course Content