Separate the owner’s decision from brokerage and property operations
Read which organization employs the intern and whose decision the work supports. An investor evaluating an acquisition, an asset manager monitoring a business plan, a broker advising a transaction and a property team handling operations can all describe their work as commercial real estate. The phrase does not make the assignments interchangeable.
CBRE’s Financial Consulting Group internship specifically concerns financial models and real-estate decision support, while its investment-management business has a separate student and graduate recruiting route. Those sources are useful starting points, not evidence that every program is a principal-investing internship.
Ask whether the intern will prepare underwriting, market research, reporting, lease analysis, transaction materials or operational coordination. Then connect your preparation to that deliverable. Knowing a firm’s name and assets does not replace understanding which team is hiring.
For acquisitions, explain the price and the assumptions behind it
Take a fictional property with an expected first-year net operating income of $600,000 and an illustrative 6% capitalization rate. The simple indicated value is $10 million. That is a model output, not an appraisal. It depends on the definition of income, its expected persistence and the chosen capitalization rate.
An acquisition memo should identify the property and market, the current operating position, the proposed business plan, the purchase economics and the main evidence gaps. A rent increase belongs in the forecast only with an explicit assumption about timing, leases and attainable rents. Renovation spending belongs in the cash requirements rather than disappearing below an attractive income line.
Write the disconfirming question: what would make the projected $600,000 unreliable? A near-term lease expiry, unsupported occupancy assumption or understated cost may matter more than a small spreadsheet-formatting improvement.
For asset management, explain a miss against the plan
Now assume the property is already owned. Budgeted revenue is $1 million and expenses $400,000, producing the same $600,000 NOI. Actual revenue is $950,000 and expenses $420,000, producing $530,000. The $70,000 shortfall is a $50,000 revenue miss plus $20,000 of additional expense.
| Measure | Budget | Actual | Variance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1,000,000 | $950,000 | −$50,000 |
| Operating expenses | $400,000 | $420,000 | +$20,000 |
| NOI | $600,000 | $530,000 | −$70,000 |
A useful monthly report goes beyond stating the variance. Separate timing from a persistent change, identify evidence needed from the property team and connect each proposed action to an owner and date. A repair paid earlier than budgeted is different from a permanent increase in operating costs.
Do not automatically revalue the investment using one weak month or assume every dollar of variance can be recovered. Clarify the reporting period, any nonrecurring items and the forward expectation before recommending a revised plan.
Separate operating income from the cash needed to own the asset
A lease can create expenses before it creates cash receipts. Tenant improvements, leasing commissions, rent-free periods and a security deposit each affect different parts of the model. Keep their definitions and timing explicit. Do not call all receipts revenue or all spending operating expense.
For a teaching example, imagine a $40,000 improvement paid now to support a future lease. Your memo should show the current cash requirement and when the modeled lease revenue begins. It should also ask whether the lease is executed or merely expected. A proposal, letter of intent and signed lease are not equivalent evidence of future cash flow.
This is where acquisitions and asset management meet: the purchase thesis establishes expectations, and subsequent reporting tests whether the investment is delivering them. A coherent handoff preserves assumptions instead of replacing the acquisition model with an unrelated reporting workbook.
Build two short documents using the same property
Create an acquisition memo and a monthly asset-management report for the fictional property. Keep one shared assumptions sheet with source or scenario labels. In the acquisition memo, show the valuation sensitivity and the next diligence request. In the operating report, reconcile the $70,000 shortfall and propose a bounded investigation.
Include a rent-roll-style table with fictional tenants, areas, rents and expiry dates only if you use it in the analysis. A decorative spreadsheet with many empty columns does not demonstrate underwriting skill. Check that annual and monthly rents, occupied area and total area are not mixed.
Ask a reviewer to change a lease assumption and trace the consequence through the model. If the answer requires manually changing several inconsistent totals, simplify the workbook until the relationship is explicit.
Ask who uses the intern’s analysis
A strong screening question is: “Which decision will use the model or report I help prepare?” The answer might identify an investment committee, an asset manager, a broker, a lender or a property operator. Follow up by asking what review and feedback interns receive.
Read the exact role’s degree, coursework, location and software expectations. A tool named in one program is not mandatory throughout commercial real estate. Show the model you can explain rather than listing unfamiliar software to resemble a professional résumé.
For application evidence, describe the actual project: modeled a fictional property, reconciled its operating variance and tested valuation assumptions. Do not claim acquisition experience, capital raised or assets managed from a student exercise. That distinction keeps the work credible while still showing a concrete starting skill.