Watch Me Solve a REPE Technical Interview Modeling Test (Updated Sept 2025)

Watch Me Solve a REPE Technical Interview Modeling Test (Updated Sept 2025)

What better way to spend some free time over the Thanksgiving holiday, than to record myself completing a real estate private equity technical interview exercise! While I’ve offered help with the real estate technical interview in the past, I’ve never just grabbed an actual technical interview case study and walked our readers through how I would complete it. So, in this video, I spend an hour and 15 minutes doing just that. Follow along by downloading the companion Excel file.

Note: The file for download has been updated to v1.3. The latest version includes several small error fixes and a third worksheet that includes an optional Operating Shortfall reserve. See version notes at the end of this post.

Are you an Accelerator member? See capstone courses 16, 17, and 18 of the core curriculum for detailed instruction on how to build models similar to that built in this Watch Me Build. Not yet an Accelerator member? Consider joining the real estate financial modeling training program used by top real estate companies and elite universities to train the next generation of CRE professionals.

 

If you’re reading this, you’ll probably also find value in our ‘How to Prepare for a Real Estate Technical Interview‘ post.

Source of the Technical Interview Case Study (Modeling Exercise)

So, I was lurking on WSO earlier this week, and I came across a thread from someone requesting help to prepare for a real estate technical interview. Well, about four comments into the thread, a contributor (Yakehito) shared a ‘Modeling Exercise’ he’d been given as part of a top tier REPE company’s interview process. According to Yakehito, he/she had been provided with nothing more than a blank Excel file, a two-hour window, and a list of assumptions. You can find them here (as well as re-posted below).

So, reading through the assumptions, I thought “our readers would probably find it useful if I were to do this exercise and record myself while I do it.” So that is exactly what I’ve done. Below, you’ll find the assumptions from the aforementioned thread, together with a video I recorded (warning: it’s long and boring!) and the finished product for you to download and follow along as you watch.

 

Modeling Exercise Assumptions

All inputs below should be flexible assumptions

Development Program

• 200,000 SF office building
• Land purchase price: $20M ($100 per FAR)
• Closing Costs: 1% of purchase price
• Hard Costs: $300 psf
• Soft Costs: (excluding TI’s, LC’s and Debt): 15% of hard costs
• TI’s: $60 psf – paid at tenant occupancy
• LC’s: $18 psf – paid six months before tenant occupancy

Construction & Lease-up

• 24 Month Construction Period, beginning at land close date
• Costs spent evenly over construction period
• 2 Tenant Lease-up of equal size (one tenant at construction completion; one 6 months after completion)
• Lease up to 95%
• Rent $4.25 NNN (I’m assuming monthly)
• Free Rent: 3 months free
• Annual rental bumps: 3%
• Annual Operating Expenses during Lease-Up: $16 psf

Debt Assumptions

• 60% LTC
• Rate: 5% all-in interest rate
• All equity drawn first; then debt
• Use available cash flow to offset debt costs, as available

Hold Period:

• 5 years after stabilization
• Exit Cap Rate: 5.5%
• Transaction Fees: 1.5%

Joint Venture Structure

• LP invests 95% of required equity / GP invests 5%
• All cash flows are distributed 95/5 until the LP has achieved a 12% IRR
• Any excess cash flow thereafter is distributed 20% to the GP and 80% to the LP

Required Output

• Required Project Equity, Net Profit, IRR and ROC (Return on Capital)
• Required LP (after promote) Equity, Net Profit, IRR and ROC (Return on Capital)

Frequently Asked Question