Resources
Guides for commercial real estate sponsors
Plain-English playbooks on waterfalls, Reg D, investor portals, capital calls and the data behind every deal. Written for GPs and their finance teams.
Updated
Guides
Each guide is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice.
- Distributions7 min read
How real estate waterfalls work
Return of capital, pref, GP catch-up and promote tiers, with a worked example, IRR vs equity-multiple hurdles and American vs European waterfalls.
- Compliance6 min read
506(b) vs 506(c) for real estate syndicators
Rule 506(b) vs 506(c) for real estate sponsors: general solicitation, accredited investor verification, 2025 SEC staff guidance, Form D and blue sky filings.
- Investor relations5 min read
Investor portal checklist for real estate sponsors
What LPs expect from an investor portal (documents, K-1s, distributions, capital accounts, online subscriptions, 2FA) and a buyer’s checklist for sponsors.
- Fund operations6 min read
Capital calls and distributions: a sponsor’s guide
How capital calls and distributions work: commitments vs funded capital, notices and timing, ACH vs wire vs check, withholding basics and capital accounts.
- Operations6 min read
From rent roll to K-1: the sponsor data lifecycle
How deal data flows from OM, rent roll and T-12 through the raise, operations, reporting, distributions and K-1 drafts — and why re-keying causes errors.
- Distributions7 min read
GP catch-up explained, with a worked example
How a GP catch-up works: the math, a tier-by-tier example, full vs partial catch-up, what happens when cash runs short, and American vs European waterfalls.
- Operations8 min read
How to syndicate a real estate deal (checklist)
The real estate syndication process step by step: entities, PPM and counsel, 506(b) vs 506(c), the raise, closing, Form D, blue sky notices, reporting and K-1s.
- Compliance8 min read
Accredited investor verification for 506(c) offerings
Reasonable steps under Rule 506(c): income, net worth and third-party methods, the 2025 SEC minimum-investment guidance, and a verification letter outline.
- Fund operations7 min read
Capital call notice template for real estate sponsors
Fill-in capital call notice template and sample: commitment, amount due, purpose, balances before and after, ILPA guidance, default terms and wire-fraud checks.
- Operations9 min read
AI underwriting tools for commercial real estate
What AI underwriting tools do with OMs, rent rolls and T-12s, what to check before you trust the output, and a dated table of tools as their vendors list them.
- Compliance10 min read
How to write a PPM for a real estate syndication
What a private placement memorandum contains, what Regulation D requires, who drafts what, and typical cost and timing. An explainer, not a legal form.
- Investor reporting8 min read
Investor update template for real estate deals
Quarterly investor update template for real estate deals and funds: summary, performance, budget vs actual, distributions, capex, debt, market and next steps.
- Investor reporting7 min read
Distribution notice template for real estate
Distribution notice template for real estate LPs: gross distribution, investor share, ownership, return of capital vs pref vs profit, payment and a tax note.
Key terms, explained
One page per term: a plain definition, the formula, a worked example and the mistakes to avoid.
- 1031 exchange
- Accredited investor
- Acquisition fee
- Asset management fee
- Blind pool fund
- Bonus depreciation
- Break-even occupancy
- Cap rate
- Capital account
- Capital call
- Capital stack
- Carried interest
- Cash-on-cash return
- Clawback
- Cost segregation
- Debt yield
- Delaware statutory trust (DST)
- Depreciation recapture
- Disposition fee
- DPI (distributions to paid-in capital)
- DSCR (debt service coverage ratio)
- Effective gross income (EGI)
- Equity multiple
- Evergreen fund
- Form D
- GP vs LP
- Gross rent multiplier (GRM)
- Hurdle rate
- Interest-only period
- IRR (internal rate of return)
- K-1 (Schedule K-1)
- Loan-to-cost (LTC)
- Loss to lease
- LTV (loan-to-value)
- Mezzanine debt
- MOIC (multiple on invested capital)
- NAV (net asset value)
- NOI (net operating income)
- Operating agreement
- Opportunity zone fund (QOF)
- Pari passu
- PPM (private placement memorandum)
- Preferred equity
- Preferred return
- Pro forma
- Promote
- Real estate syndication
- Rent roll
- Return of capital
- RVPI (residual value to paid-in capital)
- Side letter
- Special purpose vehicle (SPV)
- Sponsor
- Sponsor co-invest
- Subscription agreement
- Syndication fees
- T-12 (trailing twelve months)
- Tax basis capital account
- TVPI (total value to paid-in capital)
- Underwriting
- Unfunded commitment
- Value-add
- Waterfall hurdle types
- Yield on cost
Reference and tools
CRE investment glossary
76 capital-markets terms in plain English, from accredited investor to waterfall.
Free calculators
Waterfall splits, preferred return accrual, and IRR with equity multiple — on your own numbers, no sign-up.
Software pricing dataset
What sponsor platforms publish about prices, contracts and migration fees — dated, sourced, free CSV.
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