Introducing rSquared CRE- Part 2: The Genesis of a Revolutionary CRE Valuation and Underwriting Solution

The co-founders of rSquared CRE had a clear vision and mission. Now they needed the right talent to bring both to life.

“We were talking about the situation and it suddenly dawned upon us: we can help everyone, the entire commercial real estate industry,” said rSquared COO John Brosnan. “The lack of modern, up-to-date technology was causing everyone in the industry to work slower and less efficiently, but we could do something about it. That realization was liberating and exciting. But we knew we needed smart, talented people on board to make it happen.”

To make the rSquared leadership team complete, software marketing ace Marci Zinke was brought in to oversee marketing and communications; CRE veteran Mary Osswald moved over from Realogic to run the Professional Services team; and Matt Moore, who had over a decade of software development experience, moved over from Realogic to be SVP of Engineering.

Those three in turn recruited experienced and talented professionals to round out their teams.

The first new product rSquared designed and developed was our flagship valuation and underwriting software, rDCF. To really make an impact, the team knew rDCF had to be completely different from and light years better than existing valuation and underwriting software.

For starters, the team decided that rDCF would be a SaaS solution. Unlike the legacy on-premise solutions, users would be able to access their data anytime, anywhere, with any device with a high-speed internet connection. No more being tethered to an office or desk, plus users could work on the same projects simultaneously, which is not an option with some legacy software.

Another big benefit of SaaS is the total ownership cost is generally much lower than that of traditional hosted solutions, making rDCF an affordable option.

“The entire software industry has been migrating to the cloud for years,” said rSquared CEO Sal Caldarone. “The commercial real estate industry was ready for a quality SaaS-based underwriting and valuation tool.”

Next, the team wanted rDCF to have a modern, simple, intuitive UX and simple, easy navigation. No more fumbling through confusing, complicated screens or menus, or scrolling through endless columns to enter data.

To speed data entry, help reduce errors and minimize user fatigue, rDCF has over a dozen hot keys, carousel inputs, file drag and drop functionality and other advanced, convenient time-saving features.

An auto-save feature, minimal pop-ups and no edit or save buttons also speed work, increase efficiency, boost accuracy and reduce on-screen clutter.

Because Excel is so central and essential to CRE, the rSquared team built rDCF so that Excel files could be imported quickly and effortlessly.

“We were fastidious with our planning and development,” said Brosnan. “We listened to our clients and associates, studied the existing CRE valuation and underwriting solutions and developed a product that had the features and functionality everyone wanted most.”

One big complaint about existing valuation and underwriting software the team at rSquared had heard repeatedly from clients and co-workers alike was the lack of data transparency. Because formulas in the software were hidden, it wasn’t always clear how certain numbers were derived or where supporting data came from, which caused confusion and created extra work to verify data.

In response, all formulas in rDCF are transparent, so all parties can see how the numbers were calculated and know the source of data.

Then, to really set rDCF apart from other commercial real estate valuation and underwriting applications, the team added the aforementioned underwriting workbook, a powerful, versatile, game-changing tool for conducting advanced and sophisticated analytics, generating key property and portfolio data and quickly and easily producing clear, concise, presentation-ready reports.

rDCF’s unique and innovative underwriting workbook also enables users to build and review multiple debt traunches for leveraged or unleveraged returns, or model sophisticated equity structures, including multi-tiered waterfalls and fees.

“No other valuation and underwriting solution has an underwriting workbook like rDCF’s,” said Caldarone. “It enables the kind of advanced analytics and produces the rich, accurate data the industry has been dreaming about. It’s a truly unique, versatile and advanced feature.”

In addition to rDCF, the rSquared portfolio includes the aforementioned rBudget, a SaaS-based budgeting and forecasting tool, and rAbstract, for quick, easy lease abstraction and administration.

So, rSquared CRE is well on its way to fulfilling its mission of providing advanced technology to help the entire commercial real estate industry work faster, better, smarter and more profitably.

Today, it’s rDCF, our advanced valuation and underwriting software; rBudget, our sophisticated budgeting and forecasting solution; and rAbstract, our intuitive, easy-to-use software for abstracting and administering leases and other CRE documents.

Tomorrow? Who knows. The commercial real estate industry is constantly growing and evolving, and whatever technology CRE professionals need next, you can bet that rSquared will be at the forefront, ready, willing and able to help.