Real Estate Valuation Template

Start with the Inputs & Assumptions sheet. Pull your last three years of income statements and identify your revenue mix — what percentage comes from closed transaction commissions versus recurring property management fees. This split is the single biggest driver of your multiple range, and getting it right upfront saves rework later. Enter your owner compensation and work through the add-back schedule: most real estate owners pay themselves above-market salaries, run personal vehicles through the business, or carry discretionary marketing expenses that won't transfer to a new owner. Each add-back increases your normalized earnings and directly affects the final valuation.

With inputs set, move to the Income Approach and Market Approach sheets. The income approach will give you an SDE or EBITDA multiple — review the multiple range suggested by the sheet and adjust if your situation warrants it. A brokerage with consistent agent retention and a growing property management division commands more than one where two top producers account for 40% of GCI. The Market Approach compares your metrics against recent industry transactions and helps you cross-check the income approach. Pay attention to the comparable multiple range — if your income approach lands outside the market range, investigate why before taking the number to a broker.

Review the Valuation Summary once all three methods are complete. The weighted average gives you a working number, but the range is often more useful in practice — most real estate businesses sell somewhere between the low and midpoint of the range depending on how motivated the seller is and how competitive the buyer pool is. Many owners run this template annually to track how decisions like expanding property management, reducing agent turnover, or diversifying the client base translate into measurable changes in business value. Having a current valuation on hand also speeds up SBA loan applications, partnership buyouts, and estate planning conversations.

Real estate businesses come in two fundamentally different flavors when it comes to valuation: transaction-dependent brokerages and fee-based property management companies. A brokerage where revenue resets to zero at the start of each year because every sale has to be won anew is a very different asset from a property management firm collecting predictable monthly fees on 200 units. Buyers pay more for predictability, which is why property management companies routinely sell at higher multiples than residential brokerages of the same size. The distinction matters because many real estate businesses operate both models simultaneously, and the revenue mix significantly affects the blended multiple.

For transactional brokerages, the income approach using Seller's Discretionary Earnings (SDE) is the standard method. Small brokerages — one to five agents, owner-operated — typically sell for 1x–2.5x SDE. Larger brokerages with proven agent recruitment systems, strong brand presence, and low dependence on any single producer can reach 3x–4x EBITDA. The market approach using GCI multiples (typically 0.5x–1.5x) provides a useful cross-check. For property management companies, recurring management fees are valued like subscription revenue — 2x–4x annual recurring revenue is common, and companies with long-term management contracts and low client churn command the top of that range. The critical input is agent or client concentration: if 30% of revenue comes from one team or one property owner, buyers apply a discount.

Run a valuation before you plan to sell, not when you've already decided to. Real estate business owners who start the process early consistently identify value drivers they can act on: the property management book that could be grown from 80 units to 200 units, the top agent who could be locked in with an equity arrangement rather than a commission split, the administrative processes that currently live only in the owner's head. A valuation done three years before an exit gives you time to move the needle on the things that affect multiples — recurring revenue percentage, client concentration, owner-independence — rather than accepting the number you get on the day you decide you're done.