Spencer Burton

Commercial Real Estate Investments and Technology

Spencer Burton is currently President and member of the founding team at Stablewood, a data-infused multi-strategy institutional real estate investor that combines the best of traditional real estate investment with proprietary data analytics and machine learning.

Spencer has over 20 years of real estate experience, both as a fiduciary and principal. Over his career, Spencer has helped close $5+ billion and underwrite $30+ billion of commercial real estate at some of the largest institutional real estate firms in the world. He has worked in land brokerage, residential development, commercial real estate acquisitions, debt production, and Investment Manager for a $60 billion institutional real estate investor.

Spencer is also the co-creator of AdventuresinCRE.com, the industry’s go-to place for commercial real estate financial modeling, education, and career advancement resources. He is also the author of various AI-powered CRE tools and an expert on the practical application of generative AI in commercial real estate.

Spencer Burton holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs with an emphasis in economics from Florida State University and a Masters in Real Estate with a concentration in finance from Cornell University.

Experience

President - Stablewood

April 2023 - Current

Stablewood is a data-infused, institutionally backed multi-strategy real estate operator formed by a team of veteran real estate and analytics professionals. Stablewood combines the best of traditional real estate investment and management with proprietary data analytics and machine learning to better integrate previously inefficient processes throughout the investment life cycle.

Head of Investments - Stablewood

June 2020 - April 2023

Stablewood is a data-infused, institutionally backed multi-strategy real estate operator formed by a team of veteran real estate and analytics professionals. Stablewood combines the best of traditional real estate investment and management with proprietary data analytics and machine learning to better integrate previously inefficient processes throughout the investment life cycle.

Director - Northwestern Mutual Real Estate

Jun 2015 - June 2020

Source and evaluate new real estate acquisition, development, and debt opportunities for the company's Dallas Regional Office. Act as investment manager for real estate investments in Mexico, Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. Serve on committees responsible for maintaining and improving debt and equity pricing models.

Summer Associate - USAA Real Estate

May 2014 - Aug 2014

Assisted the acquisitions team in evaluating 38 institutional quality assets in 13 U.S. states; utilized ARGUS DCF and Excel for quantitative analysis and Costar, Real Capital Analytics, and CBRE Econometrics for market research and analysis; property types included grocery-anchored retail, industrial warehouse and logistics, medical office, CBD office, and urban multifamily.

Development Manager - Grupo 9 Grados

Mar 2008 - Aug 2013

Analyzed potential international real estate development opportunities and led site selection, entitlement, and design. Developed financial models and analysis; communicated recommendations to partners for consideration in purchasing development properties.

Managing Member - Sydney Cooper Lending Group

Jan 2005 - Jun 2008

Co-crafted concept for a mortgage brokerage that within the first year was originating ~$15 million per month in residential mortgage volume. Developed marketing and financial strategy; co-managed two branches with over 35 employees.

Education

MPS / Real Estate Finance - Cornell University

2013 - 2015

Awarded the Baker Fellowship, Cornell University's full-tuition fellowship given to two Baker Program in Real Estate students who have shown ``extraordinary community, professional, and academic leadership.``

B.A. International Affairs - Florida State University

Average 3.98 in Economics, Business, Statistics, Marketing, and Accounting courses. Valedictorian at FSU’s international campus in the Republic of Panama.

Preview of Posts at Adventures in CRE

Generative AI and Commercial Real Estate


As many of you know, I’ve been on an exciting journey diving into the world of generative AI and exploring its applications for commercial real estate. At A.CRE, I’m committed to sharing my knowledge with our vibrant community. So far, I’ve written 15 in-depth articles covering artificial intelligence in CRE, where I delve into various […]

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Stablewood Properties – Data and Tech-Infused Real Estate Investor


In early 2020, I had the pleasure to join the Stablewood Properties team as its Head of Investments. Since that time, many of you have asked to learn more about Stablewood and its vision. In this post, I introduce the Stablewood team, and share more about Stablewood ‘s focus on data and technology to make […]

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A.CRE Accelerator Real Estate Financial Modeling Courses


In January of this year (2019), Michael and I published our first comprehensive real estate financial modeling training program to Adventures in CRE. Dubbed the A.CRE Real Estate Financial Modeling Accelerator, the program includes 16 courses covering the A to Z’s of analyzing real estate in Excel. Allow me to quickly share the why and […]

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Real Estate Financial Models in Excel


Since launching Adventures in CRE over four years ago, I have shared dozens of real estate financial models. These models I built in Microsoft Excel and are meant to be used to analyze various analysis tasks in real estate. Most of my models are meant for underwriting new investment scenarios, such as acquisition or development […]

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Job Board for Commercial Real Estate Professionals


Searching for a professional job in commercial real estate is not an easy task. I know from personal experience. I started my career on the residential development side of the business. After 12 years, I decided to return to school to make a transition to the commercial, institutional investment side of the industry. I was fortunate enough […]

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Series on Graduate Real Estate Programs


About six months ago, I set out to research and write six, in-depth profiles on the top graduate real estate programs in the United States. The series is progressing along nicely, and I recently published the fourth profile in the series; this most recent post profiling my alma mater, the Cornell Baker Program in Real Estate. […]

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Stochastic Modeling Series


I’m working on a new series on probabilistic modeling over at my blog, adventuresincre.com. Real Estate analysis tends to be very two dimensional, where our best guess assumptions are entered into a model and we heavily rely on the one return outputs that come from those assumptions. Stochastic modeling involves putting variability into a real […]

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Technical Real Estate Interview


A common a inquiry I receive from readers of my blog, especially from aspiring real estate professionals still in college, relates to real estate technical interviews. They want to know what to expect, and how best to prepare. This past weekend, I sat down and put together a post – my longest and most comprehensive […]

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The Floating Summary Box


I want to direct you to another blog post I recently wrote. Titled: Real Estate Modeling Tip: The Floating Summary Box, the post highlights a little trick I discovered this week while working on an enormous real estate model in Excel. The tip saves time, looks good, and will make your real estate models even […]

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Fundamentals of Real Estate Financial Modeling in Excel


In response to recent inquiries about how to become proficient in real estate modeling, I posted an article on my blog discussing the areas of study that one must undertake to master the skill. These three areas are finance, real estate principles, and Microsoft Excel. In the post, I link to some great free resources online for […]

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Four Tier Equity Waterfall Model


When I finished my graduate real estate studies at Cornell, I felt entirely prepared for the new side of real estate I was going into. Nonetheless, there were still areas where I felt weaker than others. Modeling equity waterfall structures was one of those areas. Now don’t misunderstand me. I took classes where we had opportunities to study and […]

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ARGUS Training Resources


Having a working knowledge of ARGUS DCF is crucial to analyzing real estate investments; especially if you are investing in institutional quality real estate assets. Unfortunately, readily available and affordable ARGUS training options are hard to come by. Over at my blog, I’ve posted a few of the resources I’ve used in the past. So, […]

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Real Estate Careers Series


In my real estate career series, I discuss how real estate as a career is widely misunderstood. To the layperson, real estate means brokering single family homes. But in reality, real estate is so much more. In this four part series, I first look at the different job sectors and property types that real estate […]

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My Excel Real Estate Models Library


Over at my blog, I share a few of the Excel real estate financial models I’ve built over the years. Feel free to use, change, and make the models your own. If you have any questions about any of the models, don’t hesitate to email. Note: I have not included models I’ve used professionally.  

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Masters in Real Estate vs. MBA


I recently wrote a piece over at my blog that discusses the reasons why I chose a Masters in Real Estate over an MBA. The reasoning came down to three key factors: 1) The People, 2) The Subject Matter, and 3) The Career Opportunities. Go check it out:  

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Get in touch with Spencer