Investment Analyst: Income Analysis Software/Discounted Cash Flow Software for Commercial Real Estate Appraisers and Real Estate Investors




The Expert is in the Software

Investment Analyst - who uses our software

Our products are used by clients in all fifty states and several foreign countries. Members of all major appraisal organizations use our products. So do assessors, review appraisers, government agencies (federal, state and local), financial institutions, CPAs, insurance companies, real estate agents, developers and investors.

They use Analyst to value commercial property; to appraise it, to assess it, to measure its performance. The use Analyst because it is easy to use, it is comprehensive, it develops values using 3 distinct and proven mathematical techniques, and it provides thorough documentation and professional quality reports.

Listed below are the typical users of Investment Analyst.

INVESTMENT ANALYST SOFTWARE IS DESIGNED FOR:

Real Estate Appraisers

Real Estate Appraisers use our products to develop and document values in the Income Approach; to extract yield rates from comparable income properties; to study the effects of market influences like interest rates, growth rates and required IRR's; and to quickly evaluate values before actually committing to an assignment. They especially like the ease of use and flexibility. It takes much less time to perform a complete analysis - and time is money.

Financial Institutions

ANALYST is a useful tool for many of the financial institution's departments. In-house real estate appraisers use it to prepare quality appraisal reports. Reports take less time to prepare. The product's ease of use and understandable reporting introduce consistency into the appraisal department. It becomes easier to train new real estate appraisers. Review appraisers become more productive and better prepared to evaluate the work of others. Easily verify the calculation of capitalization rates, yield rates, and cash flow projections. Loan underwriters perform preliminary analyses quickly, before spending their client's funds unnecessarily. Loans that do not require an outside real estate appraisal can still be evaluated and documented professionally, again saving the client money. Branch staff can perform preliminary evaluations and provide intelligent consultation to bank customers.

Real Estate Investors

Look at the income of dozens of properties in a short time with this tool. Our products will evaluate any property from a small apartment conversion to a 200 unit luxury complex to a strip shopping center. Don't waste your time with unstructured spreadsheets that may contain bad cell references and inaccurate formulas. Use the same tool that professional real estate appraisers use. And when you approach the bank for financing, you will be prepared with accurate and impressive documentation to support your request.

Property Assessors

Property Assessors are constantly under pressure from property owners who can hire high priced professionals to challenge their conclusions. Property Assessors like the supporting documentation that makes it less likely that they will be challenged. We have heard from assessors who actually let the property owners enter the data into our products, convincing owners of the validity of the Property Assessor's estimate of value. Our products can be used to develop the caprate using a load factor for real estate taxes, a court requirement in many jurisdictions and an accepted method for Property Assessors.

Property Owners

Did you ever wonder what your commercial real estate is worth? How do the new rentals effect your borrowing ability? Need to document the value of your commercial real estate for property assessment, financing or estate purposes? Our products make these jobs easy and interesting. See how mortgage interest rates effect the value of your holdings. Learn why properties in a growing area are worth more. Determine what rentals you have to charge in order to get the yield that you want. Intelligently establish the asking price of your holdings. Don't sell your properties short.

Review Appraisers

Review appraisers need to evaluate the reasonableness of a real estate appraiser's value, based upon the assumptions that the appraiser has made. When reviewing the Income Approach, the review appraiser often has to reconstruct the calculations in order to evaluate them. Numbers buried in a DCF analysis are very difficult to reconcile and document. Easily verify the calculation of capitalization rates, yield rates, and cash flow projections with our DCF software.

Real Estate Agents

Listing and selling commercial real estate is a different animal. It is important to use a tool that will help you to properly evaluate the income. Our products will provide the assistance that you need to list the property right. And the supporting documentation makes it much easier to make a strong presentation to potential buyers. On the other hand, if you are representing a buyer, our products will assist you in efficiently screening out listings that do not meet your client's requirements. And, as you know, financing is a key to making the deal. You can use our products to prepare impressive supporting documentation that will make the loan process faster and more likely to succeed.

Real Estate Developers

Rules of thumb are usually reliable, but a strong analysis of income and expenses is better. What rentals do you really need to get to make the project work? What kind of yield, both cash on cash and overall, will you really get? Is the cash flow sufficient to adequately cover the mortgage payments? What difference will it make if you can shave a quarter point off the mortgage interest rate? Our products are designed to answer all of the questions above, easily and quickly.

CPA's, Investment Counselors

Your clients look to you for accurate, timely advice on a variety of investment alternatives. It may be a real estate investment, or a business venture, or a question about refinancing. You may be requested to update the values in your client's portfolio on a periodic basis. Whatever the request, our products provide you with a tool that can be used equally well for simple or complicated investments cost effectively. You will save time on each analysis and offer better service to your clients at fees they find acceptable.

Insurance Companies, Corporations, Pension Funds, REIT's

Income Analysis can be expensive. Skilled analysts require extensive training in the proper methods. DCF Software can help, but if you are using a program that requires complicated data entry and is not intuitive, the software is counter-productive. The alternative of developing custom spreadsheets doesn't help either. They are difficult to use and prone to invalid methods and incorrect formulas. Our products will give you a tool that is easy to use, has a shallow learning curve, and yet will perform the most complicated analyses quickly. The supporting documentation is consistent and easily reviewed and understood by others. What-if analysis is simple, so your analysts will not spend hours or days revising an analysis. Whether you are re-valuing assets, looking at acquisitions or planning future investment strategies, our products are cost effective, reliable, accurate and consistent.

Business Valuation

The analysis of income producing real estate has been the focus of our products for more than a decade. This is the dominant theme of our literature, the market that we try to inform, and the area where our staff is particularly skilled. However, the concepts and software are equally applicable to the valuation of any income producing property. Capitalization theory spans all disciplines that involve the evaluation of cash flows that extend into the future. IRR, capitalization rates, and the concept of present value are universally applied.

Our software products allow completely flexible data entry, allowing you to define income and expenses, cash flow variability and input assumptions. Therefore, our products can be used effectively to value income streams produced by real estate, businesses, or any other source.

Who Uses our Software

Real Estate Appraisers
Financial Institutions
Real Estate Investors
Property Assessors
Property Owners
Review Appraisers
Real Estate Agents
Developers
CPA's
Investment Counselors
Insurance Companies
Corporations
Pension Funds
REIT's
Business Valuators

What our clients have to say.Learn more

Why our clients say what they do

EASY TO USE
No learning curve here. ANALYST has complete help screens for each field and an excellent manual. But the user interfaces are so smooth and self-explanatory that help screens and manual are almost redundant. If you know real estate you will know how to use our products. We have reduced the data entry requirements and complicated formulas needed to complete an income analysis to their essence. Mathematicians call it an elegant solution - a simple, intuitive method to solve a complex problem.
Most of our users just call it SLICK.

SPEED WHERE IT COUNTS
Today's computers are so fast that calculating numbers is immediate. What is most important, though, is how fast you get your work done. In 15 minutes with ANALYST you can get the Value, print letter quality reports, modify the numbers, print again; and do it again. Really! ANALYST makes the complicated tasks easy. Prorating leases, calculating expense stops and leasing commissions. It won't take you two hours or two days to do an income analysis and more hours to format and print the reports.
REMEMBER: Time is money.

SUPERIOR TO OTHER INCOME ANALYSIS SOFTWARE, THE 12C, AND ANY SPREADSHEET
Spreadsheets dramatically changed the way we work and what our clients expect of us. The 12C gave us raw calculating power. However, both are hard to master. Both require constant use to maintain proficiency. Neither provides much in the way of printing capabilities. Neither provides internal checks that verify your calculations. Our products are generations ahead -- the difference between a Model T and a Boeing 747. Other income analysis software focuses on the data, not the analysis. Data is certainly important; but values based upon that data are only as good as the analysis methods applied. A simple discounting of net income is insufficient and possibly incorrect.
When it comes to Income Analysis, there is no comparison.

DISCOUNTED CASH FLOW ANALYSIS
Discounting cash flows to present value is a widely accepted method of determining the value of an Investment Property. Once the cash flows are determined, it is relatively easy to do the calculations. The difficulty is in the detail. If you use a spreadsheet or complicated lease by lease program, it is difficult to enter and later verify income, expense, closing costs, etc. You will not be sure that you have the correct cash flows or value. And you will not be able to explain your results.
Our products simplify data entry and produce concise reports.

RELIABLY ACCURATE
Computers are great number crunchers. We take all of our calculations out six places. But that is not the critical measure of accuracy. Our products use three methods to check the numbers: an advanced derivative of the Ellwood method; calculation of the IRR; and calculation of the Net Present Value. Ever wondered if your calculations were correct, or if the right number was used in year 4? Worry no more.
Three independent checks. Like three experts re-calculating the numbers. That is accuracy. The way it should be done.

JUST PRESS PRINT
Getting accurate numbers quickly and easily is not enough. The results must be documented. You cannot do that with a 12C. Spreadsheets never seem to print correctly without adjustment. And because each analysis is different, you make a lot of adjustments. Our superb reports can be inserted directly into a narrative appraisal or filed to clearly document your calculations. No adjustments each time you print; no re-typing; no fooling around.

Investment Analyst Version Comparison
Feature, Function	Professional	Standard	Basic
Discounted Cash Flow Analysis	Yes	Yes	Yes
Capitalization Rate Development	Yes	Yes	Yes
Mortgage Equity Analysis	Yes	Yes	Yes
Load Factors (used by Assessors)	Yes	Yes	No
Tenant Capacity	225	43	None Gross Income Only
Expense Capacity	270	17	None Total Expenses Only
Vacancy Rates	15	3	1
Customizable Reports	Yes	Yes	Limited
Number of Reports Available	33	16	8
Automatic Lease Proration	Yes	No	No
CAM charges	Yes	No	No
Expense Stops	Yes	No	No
Holding Period	Up to 60 years	Up to 60 years	Up to 10 years
Unit Sales Analysis (lots, condos, etc.)	Optional	Optional	No



Copyright © 2007 by FINANCIAL MASTERPLAN, INC. Telephone 412-606-9000 Toll Free in U.S. 1-800-884-1630 E-Mail to: fmi@dcfsoftware.com CAPRATE CALCULATOR, CAPRATE XL, INVESTMENT ANALYST, ANALYST 98, ANALYST XP and COMMERCIAL COMPLETE are trademarks or registered trademarks of Financial Masterplan, Inc.