Free · Self-paced · No sign-in
Free commercial real estate finance course.
From rent roll to investment decision.
Learn commercial real estate (CRE) finance, from net operating income and cap rates to mortgages, loan sizing, valuation, and investment decisions. Build models, work through examples, and test your reasoning with explained multiple-choice questions.
Devon Coombs, CPA, MBA
Assistant Teaching Professor of Finance at Santa Clara University
Your progress saves in this browser. Independent learning resource; no SCU academic credit.
Your first model
Where the rent goes.
An illustrative 100-unit property. All figures are annual.
- Potential rent
- $2,400,000
- 100 units × $2,000 a month × 12
- Rental deductions
- −$292,000
- Vacancy, loss to lease, credit loss, concessions
- Other income
- +$120,000
- Parking, utility reimbursements, and other fees
Effective gross income
$2,228,000
Revenue before operating expenses, debt service, and capital spending.
- Core chapters
- 10
- Practice questions*
- 549
- Interactive calculators*
- 36
- Estimated core study time
- 26 hrs
For students, analysts, and property owners. Comfortable with percentages? You can start here; no prior real estate coursework is assumed. Study time varies; optional modules and the capstone take additional time. *Course-wide totals include optional modules; questions also include the supplemental practice bank.
Outcomes
What you will be able to do
- 01Build a pro forma from gross potential rent down to cash flow after debt serviceCh. 1 to 4
- 02Size a loan against LTV, DSCR, and debt yield, and name the binding constraintCh. 3
- 03Value a property by direct capitalization, discounted cash flow, and comparable sales, then reconcile the three into a rangeCh. 5, 6
- 04Model a GP/LP waterfall through preferred return, catch-up, and promoteCh. 8
- 05Test a deal with sensitivity tables, scenarios, levered IRR, and after-tax cash flowCh. 5, 6, 9
- 06Compare owning against leasing, and price a development against its spreadCh. 7
- 07Write the recommendation an investment committee can act on, with the downside stated plainlyCh. 10
Along the way: 36 interactive calculators built into the lessons, 549 practice questions that explain every answer, a 667-term glossary with flashcard drills, a spaced repetition queue that brings missed questions back, and a timed exam simulator.
Practice tools
Curriculum
Chapters
Chapter 01
What gives real estate its value?
Understand property rights and markets, then turn potential rent into effective gross income.
Chapter 02
How Do Real Estate Investments Produce Income? Contracts & Leases
Read the lease terms that drive revenue and deduct operating expenses to calculate NOI.
Chapter 03
How Are Real Estate Deals Financed? Funding Sources & the Capital Stack
Compare debt and equity, size a loan, and trace income through debt service to the investor.
Chapter 04
How Do You Forecast Real Estate Cash Flows? Modeling & the Pro Forma
Build a multi-year property forecast with supported assumptions, cash flows, and a sale value.
Chapter 05
What Is a Fair Price to Pay? Direct Cap, DCF, Mortgages & Risk
Estimate value using cap rates and discounted cash flow, then test financing and downside risk.
Chapter 06
How Do We Decide and Check Our Work? Triangulation, Decisions & Taxes
Compare valuation methods, evaluate investment returns, and understand how taxes affect the decision.
Chapter 07
How Do You Maximize Return and Minimize Risk? Development, Lease vs. Buy & Sale-Leaseback
Evaluate development, owning versus leasing, sale-leasebacks, and construction financing.
Chapter 08
Who Gets Paid, When, and How Much? GP/LP Waterfalls & Private Real Estate Equity
Trace how partners share cash flows through preferred returns, promotes, fees, and clawbacks.
Chapter 09
How Does Managing a Portfolio Differ from Individual Assets? Risk, Scenarios & Diversification
Build coherent scenarios and evaluate concentration, diversification, and portfolio risk.
Chapter 10
How Do You Turn Complex Analysis into Clear, Decisive Action? Recommendations & Judgment
Turn the analysis into an investment recommendation with evidence, tradeoffs, and a clear downside.
Capstone exercise
Underwrite a deal end to end
The ten chapters teach the pieces one at a time. This is the whole job, once, on one deal, with nothing pre-solved.
ILLUSTRATIVE TEACHING CASE
Northgate Commons, a 120-unit value-add multifamily deal
You get the documents a buyer actually receives and nothing already worked out: an offering memorandum, a rent roll down to the unit, a trailing 24-month operating statement, comparables, and a lender term sheet. From those you normalize the income, size the loan against LTV, DSCR, and debt yield, project 5 years of cash flow to an exit, and write the investment committee memo.
The statements are not tidy, and the adjustments that matter are stated in the documents rather than flagged for you. The case is not built to resolve neatly either, so the recommendation the evidence supports may not turn out to be a yes.
- Units
- 120
- Months of actuals
- 24
- Comparables
- 8
- Hold modeled
- 5yrs
What is in the packet
- Offering memorandum, the full 120-unit rent roll, and a 24-month operating statement with its notes and disclosures
- 4 sale comparables and 4 rent comparables, a submarket survey, and an illustrative lender term sheet
- A blank model template and a build order, so the modeling is yours and the sequence is not a guessing game
- A completed solution and a self-check with tolerance bands, including what a near miss usually means
- An investment committee memo template with the rubric it is scored against
Illustrative teaching case. Northgate Commons, the market, the broker, the lender, the comparables, and every figure in this packet are fabricated for instruction. Nothing here is a real property, a real transaction, or a real financing quote.
Optional
Supplementary Modules
Standalone deep-dives that sit outside the core ten-chapter sequence. Optional, but useful context for the material.
Optional module
Interest Rates & the Macro Backdrop
Connect interest rates and credit spreads to borrowing costs, refinancing, and property values.
Optional module
The DiPasquale-Wheaton Four-Quadrant Model & Market Analysis
Follow changes in demand through rents, prices, construction, and the supply of space.
From analysis to a decision
Present an investment you can defend.
Connect your underwriting to a clear recommendation. Work through all-in costs, debt coverage, a downside case and the conditions for approval.
Explore the investment committee guide Build a one-page decision briefIs this the free CRE course you need?
For students and aspiring analysts
Start with Chapter 1 if you are new to income property. Build toward a cash flow model, a financing decision, and the Northgate Commons underwriting capstone. Basic spreadsheet skills help; the course explains its finance terms as you go.
For targeted practice
Already studying NOI, cap rates, DSCR, or real estate valuation? Use the free real estate finance multiple-choice bank, then return to the lesson behind any answer you miss.
What is free?
The online lessons, public practice bank, calculators, and course downloads. You can study without an account. This Academy course is independently published and does not award Santa Clara University academic credit.
What should I do after the course?
Complete a model and explain a recommendation. Then use the SCU and Bay Area real estate career guide to explore REI, roles, software, and professional credentials. This course itself is not a state licensing program.
How this course works
1. Read one section at a time
Short, focused steps with worked examples and interactive calculators. Move with Continue or the arrow keys.
2. Check yourself as you go
Sections end with a knowledge check that explains every answer, right or wrong. Answers save as you go.
3. Finish with practice
Each chapter wraps up with a practice exam, and the course-wide Final Practice pools every question by topic.
Free and self-paced, open to anyone. Your progress saves automatically in this browser, so no account or sign-in is needed.
Go deeper
Sources & further reading
Everything behind the material: the research the chapters cite, the books worth owning, and the shows worth a commute. Open a shelf to browse.
Your instructor
Devon Coombs, CPA, MBA
Devon is Assistant Teaching Professor of Finance and Faculty Director of Real Estate Finance at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business. This independent learning resource brings his focus on clear explanations, financial modeling, and investment judgment to self-paced study.
“He provides every resource in the world to help his students, whether that be his own book, the videos he creates with great edits, or his own website, which helps you really drill down the information.”