MaxLife Academy
Learn commercial real estate.
Free. Forever.
A 20-course curriculum covering everything from cap rates to land development — the same knowledge MaxLife Development uses on every Florida deal. Sign up free to track your progress and earn the CIRE — Certified Investment Real Estate Expert certificate.
Courses across 6 tiers
From beginner to advanced, structured so each course builds on the last. Move at your own pace.
Always free
No credit card, no upsells, no premium tier. Just sign up with an email and you have full access to everything.
Certificate of completion
Finish all 20 courses and earn your Certified Investment Real Estate Expert certificate from MaxLife Development.
Full Curriculum
The CIRE curriculum
Complete the courses in order, or jump to the asset class you care about most. Every lesson is publicly readable — login only tracks your progress.
Foundations
Start here. The vocabulary, concepts, and mental models every CRE investor needs.
Introduction to Commercial Real Estate
Your on-ramp to the biggest asset class most investors never touch
The complete beginner's guide to commercial real estate. You'll learn what CRE actually is, the five major asset classes, who the players are, how CRE differs from residential, and why commercial properties build generational wealth faster than almost any other investment.
CRE Terminology & Key Metrics
The vocabulary and formulas every CRE investor must know cold
A hands-on tour of the CRE metrics that drive every deal: cap rate, NOI, DSCR, LTV, cash-on-cash, IRR, equity multiple, and more. You'll learn not just the formulas but when each metric matters, how they relate to each other, and the pitfalls that trip up new investors.
Financial Analysis
Master the numbers. Cap rate, NOI, DCF, IRR — the core of every CRE decision.
Reading CRE Financial Statements
Decode rent rolls, T-12s, and operating statements like a broker
Every CRE deal revolves around three documents: the rent roll, the T-12 (trailing 12-month operating statement), and the pro forma. This course teaches you to read all three, spot the numbers that matter, and identify the accounting tricks sellers use to make a property look better than it is.
Financial Analysis for CRE
Discounted cash flow, IRR, NPV, and MIRR from the ground up
The gateway course for the CIRE — Certified Investment Real Estate Expert track. You'll build the mental model that underpins all serious CRE investing: the discounted cash flow, the time value of money, and the reason IRR and cap rate answer completely different questions. By the end you can underwrite a 10-year hold on any asset class.
Building CRE Pro Formas in Excel
Model any CRE deal from a blank spreadsheet
A hands-on Excel workshop. You'll build a complete institutional-quality pro forma from scratch: rent roll, expense growth assumptions, debt service, levered and unlevered returns, sensitivity tables, and tornado charts. Downloadable template included.
Market & Deal Analysis
Evaluate markets, analyze user decisions, and quantify investment risk.
Market & Submarket Analysis
How to pick the right MSA, the right submarket, and the right corner
Location still wins in CRE, but 'good location' is a lagging indicator. This course teaches you to read leading indicators: population growth, job formation, path of development, absorption rates, and traffic counts. You'll apply the framework to Central Florida and your home market.
User Decision Analysis — Lease vs. Own
The most-overlooked skill in CRE: when a business should buy its real estate
The topic most free CRE content skips entirely. Business owners constantly ask: should we lease this space or buy it? The answer is a quantifiable cost-of-occupancy comparison, and a broker who can run it becomes indispensable. This course teaches the full framework.
Investment Analysis & Risk
Quantify risk, stress-test deals, and forecast performance
Every deal looks great in the base case — what separates pros from amateurs is how they handle downside scenarios. This course teaches sensitivity analysis, Monte Carlo basics, debt yield, break-even analysis, and the risk-adjusted return metrics institutional buyers use.
Deal-Making
Source deals, run due diligence, finance them, and negotiate to close.
Finding Commercial Deals
Where deals actually come from — hint: it's not LoopNet
The on-market listings everyone sees are the worst deals. This course teaches the full sourcing toolkit: building broker relationships, cold calling owners, direct mail, driving-for-dollars at a commercial scale, and the exact scripts MaxLife uses to generate off-market deal flow in Central Florida.
Due Diligence Deep Dive
The 90-day checklist that keeps you out of bad deals
Due diligence is where deals die — or where they should. You'll walk through the complete DD checklist: legal (title, survey, zoning, liens), physical (PCA, roof, HVAC, structural), environmental (Phase I/II ESA), financial (lease audit, CAM reconciliation), and tenant credit DD. Includes MaxLife's full downloadable checklist.
Commercial Financing & Capital Stack
Every debt product a CRE investor needs to know
From conventional bank loans to CMBS, agency, bridge, mezz, and preferred equity — the full capital stack explained in plain English. You'll learn when each product fits, how to shop lenders, and how to structure a deal that gets you the best leverage without boxing yourself in.
Commercial Real Estate Negotiations
LOIs, term sheets, and the deal points that win or lose millions
Negotiation is the highest-leverage skill in CRE — the difference between a 6% cap rate and a 7% cap rate on the same property is often who sat across the table. This course covers LOI drafting, term sheet strategy, the psychology of negotiation, BATNAs, walkaway points, and the 15 contract terms where most money gets made or lost at the table.
Asset Classes
Deep dives on NNN, multifamily, self-storage, retail, office, and industrial.
NNN & Net Lease Investing
The MaxLife Development specialty — passive income from credit tenants
Triple-net leased properties are the closest thing CRE offers to bonds: long-term, credit-tenant leases with the tenant paying taxes, insurance, and maintenance. This course covers the full NNN playbook — from tenant credit analysis and lease structure to 1031-exchange-ready underwriting — drawing on MaxLife's live deal flow.
Multifamily Investing
From duplexes to 200-unit value-add deals
Multifamily is the most-understood CRE asset class — and the most competitive. This course covers small (5-20 unit), mid (20-100 unit), and institutional (100+ unit) multifamily, the unique financing options (agency debt from Fannie/Freddie), value-add strategies, and how to underwrite a deal in any sub-segment.
Self-Storage Investing
Recession-resistant, management-light, and still fragmented
Self-storage has outperformed nearly every other CRE asset class over the last 20 years. This course covers why storage is so profitable, how to underwrite a facility, the three main acquisition strategies (mom-and-pop conversions, ground-up development, portfolio plays), and Florida-specific storage market dynamics.
Retail & Specialty Properties
Car washes, QSR, automotive, medical office, and other specialty plays
Specialty retail has some of the best cap rates in CRE — if you understand the specific business model. This course covers car washes (tunnel vs. self-serve), quick-service restaurants (QSR), automotive (Autozone, O'Reilly, Firestone), drive-thru coffee, and medical office. Each has unique underwriting quirks.
Office & Industrial/Flex
The post-COVID office reset and the industrial supercycle
Office is the most challenged asset class post-COVID, while industrial is in a multi-decade supercycle. This course teaches how to evaluate both — from trophy Class A office to suburban medical office to bulk distribution and small-bay industrial flex, plus last-mile logistics and IOS (industrial outdoor storage).
Advanced & Specialized
Development, syndication, and tax strategy for serious operators.
Land & Development Process
The MaxLife Development specialty — from raw dirt to ribbon cutting
Commercial development is where the biggest upside lives — and the biggest risks. This course walks through the complete development process: site selection, feasibility, entitlements, zoning, site planning, civil engineering, construction contracting, and project delivery. Based on MaxLife Development's live Florida projects.
Syndication & Raising Capital
Scale past your own checkbook with passive investor capital
Once you've done a few deals on your own, the next step is raising outside capital. This course covers Reg D 506(b) vs 506(c), the LP/GP structure, waterfalls and promote, PPM drafting, investor relations, and the fiduciary duties that come with holding other people's money.
Tax Strategy & 1031 Exchanges
Keep more of what you earn — legally
CRE's greatest advantage is the tax code. This course covers 1031 like-kind exchanges, cost segregation studies, bonus depreciation, passive activity rules, qualified opportunity zones, and how to structure an exit that defers (or eliminates) capital gains. This is how smart operators compound wealth tax-free for decades.
Ready to start?
Sign up free with your email — no credit card, no spam. We'll save your progress, unlock completion certificates, and send you new lessons as they publish.
Create your free account →