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Projected Cash Flow Analysis
How does Analyst find this value?  It seems like a circular argument.  If you are trying to determine the value of a series of cash flows, you cannot know the value before hand.
How does Analyst find this value?  It seems like a circular argument.  If you are trying to determine the value of a series of cash flows, you cannot know the value before hand.  Well, yes and no.
In a simple discounted cash flow analysis, where you have no closing/soft costs or financing, it is possible to directly discount the net income because the net income is also the cash flow.  The sum of the discounted value of each of the net incomes is the indicated value of the property.
However, when financing, soft costs and selling expenses are introduced, the cash flows will change as the property value changes.  And we always must discount the cash flows.  From an investor's perspective, it is the cash flows that produce his return and determine the IRR that he can expect.  Consequently, to find the indicated value that matches all of the assumptions that you have specified, Analyst performs a series of iterations, narrowing the value range each time.  Finally, it finds the only indicated value that will produce the cash flows necessary to meet the specified IRR and at the same time conform to all of the other assumptions.