OVERVIEW OF MODELS
Our fully-customizable corporate-model Excel templates are created to meet the individual needs of our clientele. We often have our clients ask us to do these two things: provide additional detail on our corporate models and highlight features of our corporate models and compare them to other competitors.
This guide will exclusively cover the corporate models. If you would like to know more about real estate investing or Excel, please check out our blog. If you want to learn how to underwrite an investment, please check out our Real Estate Finance Certification Courses at Top Shelf® Academy.
PRODUCT FEATURES
Video Walkthrough of Our Corporate Financial Model in Excel
Note about Models
The corporate model has been used to underwrite $3 billion in corporate transactions.
Models downloaded from Top Shelf Models are continuously being updated and improved.
Version Notes: v1.1
For the past 18 months, we have thoroughly tested and vetted these models internally.
Additional conditional formatting
MODEL OBJECTIVES
+ ACCURACY
The corporate model must be accurate. If you are investing millions of dollars into a corporate project, the model needs to be precise and exacting with zero formulaic errors. Without an accurate model, the capital requirements or expected returns could be misstated. Our corporate model is a 100% unlocked Excel file with fully transparent formulas. While the model is fully customizable, we are confident that it will contain everything you need.
+ EFFICIENT AND INTUITIVE
All tabs need to have a purpose, and all inputs should be organized in a logical way that is easy to follow. Anyone should be able to open the model and understand your assumptions. At TSM, this is important to us because we know that you will be sharing the results of your customized model with your investors, lenders, and partners. Each corporate model includes an easy to use, step-by-step instruction manual. This manual guides you tab by tab, and cell by cell, in order to help you underwrite your very own corporate project.
+SPECIFICATION
The problem with most generic corporate model templates is that they are standard and not able to be customized. You will either be required to add additional calculations or remove the sections you do not need. At Top Shelf Models, we have a proprietary Custom Model Builder where you are able to pick and choose the features you need. Some of these features include the ability to refinance, addition of mezzanine debt, as well as an option to choose how many tiers of waterfall calculations. The result is a model with exactly what you need, nothing more and nothing less.
+VISUAL APPEAL
A good-looking corporate model gives the audience confidence that the project is organized and thoughtful. We have included a pre-formatted investor summary tab that can be printed and used for internal and external reports. We also have a model output tab that summarizes the project in a single location so you or your marketing/investor relations team can copy the formatted reports and paste them directly into your OMs or PPMs. We have included several drop-down boxes, elevator buttons and consistent colors/formats using our trademarked formatting style.
WHY TOP SHELF MODELS?
+ CUSTOM MODEL BUILDER
This guides you through a series of questions, allowing you to achieve the exact model you need. Our competitors usually have a cookie cutter corporate model template, whereas we have several complex functionalities in our corporate model to cater to your individual needs. We also provide a 1-hour complimentary service
+INPUTS
Competitor corporate models are too simple. They might only have 2-3 tabs in total which sounds great, but that means you are inputting assumptions directly into the cashflows which is not a good practice. It could also mean that the corporate model is missing some much needed complexities that institutional investors look for. The TSM corporate model has dedicated inputs found on the Assumptions and Unit Mix tabs. Also, most competitor models don’t use iterative calculations. Without iterative calculations, the sizing of the debt is incorrect. Our models use iterative calculations to calculate the construction interest so there is no need for manual plugs that you could forget to update.
+PRECISION
Our corporate models are precise and easy to use. Look at the version history of other competitor corporate models and you will see the number of mistakes and miscalculations that have been supposedly fixed. It is almost as though the competition is using their customers to vet their own products! We have tested all the calculations and functions in our models BEFORE we offer them to our customers.
+FUNCTIONALITY
We generally have more functionality and control over the assumptions. There are countless examples, but our corporate models have annual control over the revenue and expense inflations. For the exit value calculation, you can select if the cap rate is applied to a forward 12 NOI or a trailing 3-month NOI. For Debt, we have the ability to have fixed/floating loans, SOFR caps/floors, and can size the debt based on an LTV calculation. Again, there are too many examples to list out, but you get the idea.
+EXPERTISE
We are experts at financial modeling properties of any size. We have had extensive experience with financially modeling data center properties and incoprporating our waterfall calculations. Our founder regularly teaches on private equity waterfall calculations at Harvard Business School. Our waterfalls in our corporate models can be either driven off promote or as a percentage of cashflows.
+EASE
We have made the underwriting process as easy as possible. We have included instruction manuals inside each corporate model and all models include 1-hour of free consultation with one of our financial analysts to answer any questions you have on the model or underwriting a specific investment. We are based in Dallas, Texas and can always be reached by email or phone to support you.
+CRADLE TO GRAVE
We have designed our corporate models to be used cradle to grave. Our competitor’s models have been designed to simply underwrite deals. Our corporate models have been built out to be updated during the operations of the project and include reforecasts of budgets within the monthly cashflows.