Interactive Learning Resources at Cal State Fullerton
Created by Desen Lin
Developed for instructional use at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF). These materials are educational and do not constitute financial advice.
This repository hosts browser-based interactive tools and supporting pages developed for FIN 355: Real Estate Investment Analysis at California State University, Fullerton. The goal is to help students move from formulas and definitions to a more visual, hands-on understanding of real estate concepts.
The collection is designed to grow over time. New interactive tools and course pages will be added to the catalog below as they become available.
| Resource | What It Demonstrates | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Site Feasibility Sandbox | Connects editable parcel and building geometry with site area, setbacks, lot coverage, gross floor area, FAR, development capacity, and binding-constraint analysis. | Launch the tool |
| Market Research Explorer | Introduces supply, demand, property-and-lease, and local-context factors, then shows why investments with the same projected return can carry different levels of uncertainty. | Launch the tool |
| How Amortization Changes a Loan Payment | Shows how a fixed monthly payment is divided between principal and interest, why the principal share rises over time, and how the annual amortization schedule changes with the loan amount, interest rate, and term. | Launch the tool |
| Commercial Mortgage Loan Sizing | Compares the maximum loan supported by LTV, DSCR, and debt-yield underwriting tests, identifies the binding constraint, and shows how property, loan-term, and lender-threshold assumptions change each ceiling. | Launch the tool |
| Internal Rate of Return as a Zero-NPV Solution | Visualizes IRR as an x-intercept of the NPV profile, lets students edit annual cash flows, and demonstrates why nonconventional cash flows can produce multiple IRRs or no real IRR. | Launch the tool |
| CMBS Tranching and the First-Loss Waterfall | Builds a six-tranche CMBS capital stack, connects investor yields to pool pricing, and allocates collateral losses from the first-loss bond upward through attachment and detachment points. | Launch the tool |
| Net Effective Rent and Lease NPV | Shows how free rent, tenant improvements, and leasing commissions reduce annual net effective rent, then compares a constant-growth lease with a delayed rent bump using multi-year landlord NPV. | Launch the tool |
| Development Feasibility: Replacement Rent and Land Value | Uses one development model to solve either for the minimum replacement rent or the maximum supportable land cost, with a live feasibility boundary linking rent, land, NOI, and yield on cost. | Launch the tool |
| Three Real Estate Company Valuation Approaches | Compares discounted cash flow, direct capitalization, and net asset value, showing how operating forecasts, required returns, cap rates, debt, and other balance-sheet assumptions change the implied equity value. | Launch the tool |
| Four Models for Ground-Lease Valuation | Compares two residual land-value approaches with two direct building-NOI approaches, showing how ground-rent steps, NOI growth, discount rates, and cap rates determine whether the four building-value estimates converge. | Launch the tool |
| Real Estate Exit Strategies: Sale, Refinancing, and Like-Kind Exchange | Compares immediate cash, retained real estate equity, debt, transaction costs, and current taxes across a sale, cash-out refinancing, and Section 1031 exchange, including the taxable-boot boundary for partial versus full deferral. | Launch the tool |
Additional FIN 355 tools and pages will be listed here as they are developed.
All calculations run within the browser. The tools do not collect or transmit student inputs.
The examples simplify some real-world details so that students can focus on the underlying concepts. Individual tools identify their specific assumptions and exclusions. Results should be interpreted as instructional illustrations rather than estimates for an actual transaction or financial decision.
If you use or adapt this collection, please cite it as:
Lin, D. (2026). FIN 355: Real Estate Investment Analysis Interactive Learning Resources [Computer software]. GitHub. https://github.com/desenlin/FIN355
GitHub also provides formatted citation options through Cite this repository, based on the repository’s CITATION.cff metadata.
Responsible reuse and adaptation are encouraged with attribution:
The licenses apply only to material for which Desen Lin holds the necessary rights. CSUF and CSU names, logos, and trademarks, as well as third-party libraries, fonts, icons, images, data, publications, and other externally owned materials, are excluded and remain subject to their respective terms. Attribution does not imply institutional endorsement.
Created by Desen Lin for instructional purposes in FIN 355 at California State University, Fullerton.
These materials are provided for educational use and should not be interpreted as financial advice.