Commercial real estate feasibility calculator

1. Define the project, baseline, viewpoint and horizon. Use incremental cash changes versus that baseline—not all accounting income or sunk costs.
2. Collect the source records listed below. Date your assumptions and distinguish measured figures, signed terms, quotes and forecasts. If an essential input is unknown, investigate it rather than silently entering zero.
3. Enter base assumptions and your own downside/upside changes. Use a coherent USD price basis: nominal flows with nominal discount rates, or real flows with real rates. Do not mix them.
4. Calculate. Review the period table, zero/undefined metrics, cash deficits, scenario graph and model-specific notes. A positive NPV does not satisfy operational, legal, safety, market or financing requirements.
5. Print/save the result or download the cash-flow CSV. Result JSON preserves inputs and results; CSV carries the period table. For an equal-period model, use the optional Decision Feasibility handoff only after reviewing the numbers.

Project cash flow is before financing: exclude loan proceeds, principal and interest. Equity cash flow is after financing: equity contribution at time zero, then cash after debt service and final payoff. Do not discount one viewpoint with a rate intended for the other. Different discount rates can change the comparison.

NPV discounts all modeled net cash flows. Conventional IRR/XIRR is reported only for an initial outflow followed by nonnegative net inflows and a root in the stated range. Multiple sign changes can create ambiguous IRRs; the tool does not label one root as the answer. MIRR uses the specified finance/reinvestment rates. Payback is the first period-end recovery—not an interpolation or proof that cash stays positive afterward.

Scenario changes combine within a scenario; separate scenarios are alternatives, not cumulative events or probabilities. Longer lives and terminal values are assumptions that often dominate results. Check the source evidence before relying on them.

The explicit handoff button places the base unlevered equal-period cash flows into a temporary handoff on this device and opens the complete study. On that page, choose Load the reviewed financial cash flows to replace the current unsaved study inputs. Save an existing study first if needed. There is no automatic merge.

Only initial project outlay, period benefits/costs and the matching discount rate transfer. Financing/equity returns, matrix scores, requirements, scenario probabilities and lender permissions do not. Your funding amount, requirements, ratings and additional uncertainty remain unverified and must be entered. The handoff never grants GO status. SaaS uses monthly periods and a monthly-equivalent rate; the other transferable models use years. Dated capital flows do not transfer because the complete study expects equal periods.

There is no online project save or account created by this handoff. It uses browser session storage, which can be cleared or blocked. JSON result downloads and explicit editable complete-study files are separate features.

• Use the purchase contract or proposal, closing-cost estimate and initial renovation budget. This is an acquisition/improvement-and-hold model, not a construction draw, unit-by-unit development or waterfall model.
• Use a current rent roll for annual full-occupancy potential rent. Enter vacancy/collection loss separately. Other collectible operating income is held constant. Reconcile the annual operating statement: property tax, insurance, management, repairs and utilities belong in opex as appropriate. Debt payments, income taxes and depreciation do not.
• Enter a separate cash capital reserve/capex allowance. It is excluded from NOI and deducted from cash flow. Do not also count it in opex.
• Use a lender quote for loan proceeds, nominal annual interest, monthly amortization, maturity and upfront fee. The model has no interest-only period or future refinancing; a hold past maturity is rejected. Remaining principal is paid once from sale proceeds. Loan fees are equity financing cash costs.
• Document the property value basis for LTV, your LTV/LTC/DSCR requirements and your project/equity discount rates. The model does not choose bank approval thresholds.
• Exit value uses the following year's NOI divided by your exit cap rate, then subtracts selling costs and, for equity, remaining loan principal. This is an assumption-driven terminal value, not an appraisal.
• Downside stress can combine added vacancy points, reduced potential rent, a higher exit cap and whole years without income. Costs continue in delayed years. Upside assumptions likewise require evidence; they are not automatically expected outcomes.

Read NOI, operating DSCR, debt yield, LTV/LTC, cash-on-cash and equity multiple together. Initial NOI may cover ordinary debt service while a weak sale cannot repay the balloon. The occupancy threshold assumes fixed costs and may exceed 100%. Equity multiple includes later negative cash flows as additional contributions.