Learn commercial real estate

CRE Tycoon is a free commercial real estate game that teaches by playing. You earn commissions, buy buildings with borrowed money, lease them up, and decide when to refinance or sell, and the numbers on screen behave the way they do in the real business. You get a feel for what a cap rate does long before you could define one.

These articles explain those ideas directly: the formulas, worked examples with real-world numbers, and where the game simplifies things. Read them in order if you're new, or jump to the one you need.

• What is commercial real estate?The four main property types, who does what, and how income sets value.
• NOI: net operating income explainedWhat counts as an operating expense, a worked example, and NOI versus cash flow.
• What is a cap rate?The formula, what moves it, and why a small change in cap rate swings value.
• Cash-out refinancing explainedPulling cash out of a building without selling: appraisal, LTV, DSCR, taxes and risks.
• How to learn commercial real estateThe core ideas in the order they build on each other, and ways to practice them.
• Monopoly vs real estateWhat the board game gets right about property, and what works differently in real life.
• Real estate games worth playingBoard games, city builders and sims: what each is good at and what it leaves out.